Snowy Nights
by Kikan
Summary: SPR is heading to a mysterious Inn called the Blushing Sakura near the mountains. Many strange accidents there have left the inn keepers begging Naru for help. a Naru/Mai main pairing with a little Ayako&Monk on the side.
1. Strange Happenings

**Yo! i don't own Ghost hunt or any of its characters! please enjoy! ;D**

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Wednesday, December 16th

Mai woke up in her bed with a jolt, she was afraid, very afraid. Of what? She her self didn't even know, all she could remember was a dream, no a nightmare, that made her very scared. Looking down at her self she noticed that she was drenched in sweat. This bothered her, Mai has never had a dream like this before, unless it had some thing to do with a case and even then she had a reason for being this frightened.

She got up and took a shower no longer feeling safe in her own apartment. Quickly drying her hair and she changed into jeans and black button down shirt. What ever her dream was about, it gave her a ominous feeling that she couldn't shake off.

Mai slipped into her shoes and grabbed her jacket on the way out the door. It wasn't safe in her apartment any more. She didn't care if it was three in the morning she was going to one place she knew she would be safe and that was the SPR office.

The cold December wind made her shiver. Fresh snow was everywhere, making her surroundings look like a ghost town in the dark. Zipping up her jacket and folding her arms tightly across her chest she made her way through the ankle deep snow to her only safe haven.

* * *

Naru parked his car and turned off the engine. He sighed regretfully at the thought of getting out of his warm vehicle, maybe he should come back later (it was after all ten minute to six).

Buttoning up his black trench coat, he opened his car door. Met with a blast of snowy wind he was tempted to get back in his car and leave, but he had better things to do. Naru closed the car door and trudged his way through the knee high snow to the door of the SPR building.

Which was easier said then done he thought, as he half slipped on some ice buried beneath the snow. Cursing the foul weather he reached the door only to find some one covered in snow huddled on the ground next to the door. Bending over and to take look at the person's face he found to his surprise, a girl.

Moving quickly he brushed the snow away from her face and off her shoulders, confirming his suspicions. Naru got his keys and opened the door, he quickly scooped Mai up in his arms to carry her inside. Pushing the door closed with his foot he made his way towards the 'living room.' Naru deposited Mai on the couch and took off her cold soggy shoe and skimpy looking jacket.

Concerned, he took off his trench coat and lied on top of her. He then left to go make tea and find an extra blanket.

Not being as skilled as Mai when it came to making tea, he over steeped it and had to start over. Setting the now scolding to hot to drink tea on the coffee table he went to find some blankets.

Finding nothing he went back to Mai worried that she might still be to cold. 'Why was she out here anyway? I didn't need her to come in today,' He thought some what confused, which was the only time he ever was. It was always his assistant that did that to him and it annoyed him to no end when she did.

He relaxed slightly when he saw that she had curled up at the end of the couch with his coat pull up to her chin. Naru sat down next to her and lifted her into a sitting position. Gently, he took his coat and put her arms through the sleeves, then he buttoned it up.

He was about to get his tea when he saw her starting to tremble. "Idiot" he murmured to him self as he picked her up yet again, Naru decided to sit in the love seat that was big enough for both of them to sit side by side. Putting his arms around her slim shoulders, hoping some of his heat would transfer to her. He rubbed her arms until his own arms were tired.

Shifting to get into a more comfortable position his eyes drifted to her face. A small sigh escaped his lips when he saw that she had the color come back to her face. Naru kissed the top of her head, taking in the sweet smell of her shampoo. He pulled her cold legs on to his lap and with her head resting against his chest, he then leaned back restin his head on the back of the chair.

Naru close his eyes, knowing that it would be a while before anyone would show up. He started to wonder how long she had been out there, and more so as he had asked himself before – why?

Some how he knew, he knew that when he woke up this morning at 5:30 or so, that it was going to be a long day. Looking at his assistant, Naru glanced at his watch and sighed, it wasn't ever seven yet.

* * *

Lin parked his car next to Naru's, not surprised that the workaholic was already there before him. Glad that he waited for the wind and snow to stop, Lin got out of his car and walked actually quite grace fully threw the fresh snow to the door.

The tall Chinese man took off his coat and put it in the closet. Figuring his boss was busy, he made his way to the small office near the 'living room'. Then he stopped in his tracks when he saw Naru asleep in the love seat with his arms around Mai, who was sleeping with Naru's coat on, in Naru's lap.

Lin quietly went to his office, smiling the whole way, to retrieve the camera he kept in his drawer. (and this my readers isn't just any camera. No no no no no no! This! This is Lin's special camera.) Yes, he kept this camera for special occasions just like this.

When he came back to the 'living room' he noticed they had both had snuggled closer (if possible) to each other. Letting loose one of his rare smiles, he crept toward them to take three glorious photos. Being careful not to wake them the tall smiling man went again to office and closed the door. He sat down in his swivel chair and spun around to turn on his laptop.

After waiting a few moments he plugged in the camera's memory chip. He pulled up his special folder and saved the pictures to that and his hard drive. Lin knew how much Madoka loved it when he sent her that moment he wonder what would happen if Naru ever found out. Shaking off the thought, he wished Mai would make Naru do these cute things more often.

Knowing Naru would be mad if he found out that he was here and didn't get any work done, Lin pulled up the official SPR email account to check for knew requests. Only finding two, he clicked on the first one from Monk. Then immediately deleting it after opening the attachment.

Disgusted he opened the next email, hopping it wasn't from that perverted Monk with more porn. Visibly grateful that it was from an actual client he started to read……

_Dear members of Shibuya Psychic Research_

_We are the owners of an Inn located in the Sansaki area by the mountains. It's commonly referred to as the Blushing Sakura by the locals in the near by town._

_For several years now we have been having strange things happen at our Inn. Small fires breakout in the kitchen at 3 am at random. Nobody is ever in there! Our guest complain that there are people knocking at their doors but when they answer there door no one is outside their door or in the hall. But recently it's gotten worse! People have been locked in their rooms and the children that have stayed here have also said that they have had their beds moved in the middle of the night._

_Do to these strange occurrences we constantly have to close the Inn to make repairs on the doors and kitchen. Please! Please help us! We are willing to offer you ……_

Lin raised his eyebrows at the amount, knowing that it was more than enough to convince Naru to take the job and it would probably compensate for the time it would take to reach those ever beautiful snow topped mountains. Lin did like mountains they made him feel normal* and happy in a weird way.

Lin printed out the email and stuck it in a folder. Turning back to his computer the amazingly tall, smart, and talented dark haired man started his research on the Inn using his strange and mysterious internet sources.

"I deserve a raise." He said to himself tiredly as he checked his watch.

It was only 8:30.

* * *

***Lin's referring to his height and how mountains are much larger, also there are fewer people in the mountains and he doesn't stand outas much.**

**Ahh! thank you for reading! i really hope you keep reading cuz it will get better! Now if you please review that would make me very, very happy!**


	2. Poker Face

**Yo!i hope you like this chappy cuz i did my best!**

**i don't own Ghost Hunt or it's characters! enjoy!**

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_Mai looked at her surroundings, but there was nothing. She felt as if she were surrounded by a cold dark shadow. Mai was running, she had to get there in time, she was scared. Was she scared for her life?… no… then if not for her … then who?_

_'It doesn't matter' she thought as she ran. 'I have to help him!'_

_Even though her surroundings remained the same she kept running. Exhausted she stopped knowing she wasn't getting any where and worried that she wasn't trying hard enough. Mai fell to her knees feeling hopelessly weak, she started to cry._

_Then all the fear and hopelessness vanished, caste away by a new light that embraced her with warmth. Wiping away her tears, a small smile worked its way onto her face when she felt strong arms wrap around her. Protecting her._

* * *

Same day, some time around 11:00 am

Mai slowly opened her large brown eyes. 'that was a strange dream,' she thought as she looked around, surprised at the fact that she was inside the SPR building. 'Hmmmm… that's weird… I was outside the last time I checked.' Blinking at this confused thought.

Using only her eyes she glanced up and then down, first to her incredibly sexy boss's face, then at his coat in which she was wearing, and lastly at his arms which held her close to him. She repeated this several times deciding that this was a dream.

Why? Because the Naru she knew never, never ever did anything like this. Why else would he be sleeping with her on his lap, using his shoulder as a pillow, and his arms around her?

Unless… unless he actually- No! but why not? He was the one who saved her most of the time but he was always ordering her around and getting mad at her. Though Madoka had said he did care a lot about the people close to him and that he has a weird way of showing it… maybe – maybe this was one of those ways! And that would mean he did care!

Well seeing how she couldn't pinch herself*, she was going to trying something a little different. Lifting her head, she reached up to kiss his warm cheek with her cold lips. Wondering if it was enough to wake him.

Waiting for him to wake up, her brown eyes searched his face for signs of him stirring. Slowly Naru opened his serious dark blue eyes, looking straight into her's with quiet curiosity.

Mai, caught in the intensity of his gaze didn't even try to look away, instead she decided to look closer at his eyes. As always they were like beautiful dark sapphires but with mystery or secret that couldn't be seen by others, but around the edges of his stare was were the passion and the concern he had was hidden.

But as he looked into her eyes his own softened. "Mai," Naru said still looking in to her kind brown eyes. "What were you thinking?"

Mai lied back against his shoulder once more and closed her eyes, not sure what he was referring to. Instead she snuggled closer to his warm chest.

"Thank you Naru," she said softly.

"For what, Mai?" he replied looking down at her.

"Caring for me, of course." She said meeting his dark eyes.

Naru tucked a few loose hairs behind Mai's ear. She had surprised him when she kissed him, brushing that aside he grabbed his tea off the table and handed it to her. "Drink this while it's still hot." He ordered her.

Naru watched her as she took small sips of the warm liquid. "Mai, now I want you to answer me this time," He said very seriously. "Why did you come here?"

"I – I had a horrible feeling that my apartment wasn't a safe anymore. "Her voice shaking a little as she spoke. "So I left and came here."

"So what was this 'feeling'?" he asked.

"It was a dream, people I heard were screaming and it was like this over whelming fear was going to consume me." Naru could hear the sadness and fear in her voice. "Naru, I'm sorry but I had to come here because it's safe here."

"Well if that's the case then I guess I can let you work on your day off." He said looking at his watch. "But Mai, what time did you get here?

"Umm I think it was around 3:20 or so when I left my apartment… maybe it was around 4 when I got here." She concluded taking another sip of tea.

"You came here through the snow wearing that skimpy little jacket?" It was obviously not a question. "Are you stupid?"

Mai glared at him and looked away. Naru ignored this and continued. "Mai do you realize that you had been out in the snow for two and a half hours? I surprised that your not dead." (obviously not surprised)

"Well what was I supposed to do? I had no where else to go!" she said glaring, plainly annoyed. Mai moved her legs so that she was sitting next to him. She took another sip of tea, fixing her focus on anything but him. "Can you at least let me work to day? You don't have to pay me."

Naru sighed exasperated. "Fine." He got up from the comfortable loveseat and stretched. "But you have to keep that coat on until it gets warmed up in here."

Naru turned and went down the hall to where the thermostat was located and turned it up by five degrees. He walked passed Lin's office and stopped. He waited silently outside the door, listening to the sound of clicking and tapping that came from the room. 'I can't believe it! How long has he been here?' Naru thought in disbelief. He grabbed the door nob and walked in fixing his glare on the older man.

* * *

Obviously Naru wasn't happy when he entered Lin's office. When he turned around he was also not surprised to see Naru glaring at him. Seeing how he didn't feel like dealing with Naru's bad temper, Lin directed it to the case he had received earlier. "Good Morning, I have something I want to show you."

"Don't give me that crap! How long have you been here?" Naru snap. Lin sighed inwardly, he didn't want to do it but he had to. He had to use his poker face*.

"I'm not sure, I've been researching for so long... I guess I lost track of time." Lin answered so convincingly innocent that Naru couldn't tell if was a lie or the truth. 'how did he do that?' Naru thought. The truth was Lin was just to good, Naru really had no choice but to believe him. But really Naru should be glad he never plays poker with Lin.

"Fine. What research were you doing?" Naru replied giving in, he couldn't believe it.

'Its funny,' Lin thought to himself as turned to grabbed the folder. 'Naru has never once asked him how he supported himself before he became Naru's bodyguard.'

"We got a request from some Inn owners out in the Sansaki area. They say that there have been countless incidents of unexplained noises, fires, and now they are escalating."

Naru took the folder and opened it, examining its contents. "The Sansaki area is near the mountains, right? That's out of our range."

"If you read the letter, they said they are willing to pay …" he said pointing to the sum on the page. Enjoying the look on Naru's face, even he had to admit that it was more than enough.

Naru closed the folder and looked up at him. "I'm going to look this over in my office," he said very boss like but when he turned to close the door he looked Lin straight in the face. "Go check on Mai for me, if you will."

With that he closed the door. Lin waited a few minutes after he heard the door to Naru's office close and then he was off to check on Mai.

* * *

***Mai's arms are shorter then Naru's and his coat sleeves are really long.**

***Lin is an amazing poker player and has never lost a game to anyone. word around the block was that he could bluff his way out of anything.**

**Hey! so what did you guy/girls think? i love expanding on lin's character it so much fun! Review Please!**


	3. The Kick Me Special

**Hello wonderful readers! i apologize for taking so long to update but i made this longer then the other chapters. i hope you enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: i don't own Ghost Hunt or it's characters.**

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Wednesday, December 16th

Lin found Mai sitting on the couch looking over the last few case files. When he entered the room the short, pixy like girl looked up surprised.

"Good morning Lin!" she said brightly. "I didn't know you were here!"

'Neither did Naru' Lin thought with a smile. Ignoring the curious look she gave him, he sat down next to her. He placed his hand on her cold forehead. "Naru told me to come check on you . Did something happen?" he asked looking Mai straight in the eyes.

"Naru found me covered in snow this morning, apparently I was out there for two hours. I think he's mad at me." She explained sheepishly. Hearing this made him worry, Mai was like family though he probably never admit it. 'Why would she be out there by herself? Maybe that's why Naru told him to check on her.' Assuming the rest of her body was as cold as her forehead… "You must be frozen. I'll make you some tea." He said softly. Ignoring her protest, he went to the small kitchen.

He opened the the cabinet and took a step back, he had no idea that Mai bought all of this tea. It was completely stocked alphabetized top to bottom with tins full of tea leafs. Lin had always wondered what Mai did to the tea to make his young boss like it so much and why only she made it. 'Naru has no idea.' He thought to himself as he brushed his fingers against the tins, reading the labels. Not finding what he was looking for he moved to the next cabinet. "This looks about right." He said to himself as he pulled out a tin.

* * *

A few minutes later Mai watched the tall Chinese man come into the living room carrying a cup of hot tea. Thanking him softly she took a sip and stopped. "Is something wrong?" he inquired.

"Oh no! everything is fine! I was just surprised," she said trying to stop the giggles that were attempting to escape. "Was this, by any chance, label the *Kick Me Special?"

Lin nodded his head slightly, which was when Mai started laughing. When Mai regained control she apologized to him. 'I can't believe he picked this one,' She thought.

"You see, I actually use this tea for Naru when he gets out of the hospital or looks sick, ya' know?" She explained. "Its one of my mom's blends, she used to make it for me when I was sick."

Mai watched as he got up to leave. "I'll be in my office." He said and left, the young girl turned back to the case file in front of her. All she had to was organize all the stuff that was relevant to the case and then get rid of the stuff that wasn't. After that was done she had to summarize it.

* * *

After a couple of hours of going through files, Mai got bored and decided to make tea for Naru. She placed the tea pot on the burner and waited for the water to boil. She looked around the room at all of the things that had become familiar with. The blue-gray cabinets, the white tiled floor, how Naru leans against the door frame, how …… wait, What?

"The waters going to over boil." He said with a smirk. Mai snapped back to reality and grabbed the tea pot. Pouring the water through the strainer, she turned to look at him with her chestnut brown eyes. Naru just stood there with his arms crossed.

"We are taking up a case in Sansaki. I need you to call these people and then contact the others." Setting down a slip of paper on the table next to him. "We will be leaving tomorrow, once you are done with your task you may go home and pack."

"Naru… I- I can't go home." She replied hesitantly not willing to look him in the face. Mai turned around to finish making the tea. Taking the cups in her hands, she offered one to Naru. Taking it with out a word he left the small kitchen.

Some time later, probably somewhere around five or six.

Mai was pulling on her 'skimpy' jacket and shoes. When she went to the door she found Naru there as if he were waiting for her. "You need a ride?" It was more a statement then a question but she nodded her head. When he opened the door a gust of cold air sent a shiver down her spine. Walking to the car was even worse but at lest it would be better than walking home.

It was silent most of the ride except for when he asked for her address. When they got there he parked the car and cut the ignition. "Do you want me to walk you to the door?" he asked, this time it was a question. Nodding quickly they both got out of the car and walked to her front door. Knowing what ever was behind the door wasn't going to be good she hesitated, looking at Naru for reassurance. When he nodded for her to continue, she grabbed her key and hastily unlocked the door. When they got inside they were shocked to find that two of the windows had been broken and stuff had been thrown every where.

"Oh my god… my apartment!" Mai gasped as she looked around at the obvious empty spaces. Her TV, radio, and microwave were missing along with a few other pieces of furniture that she had, including her small desk. Preoccupied with the mess of broken lamps and strewn paper Mai didn't hear Naru call the police to report the robbery. She walked to her room, glad that it was mostly intact, reached under her bed for her blue medium sized suitcase. Quickly grabbing cloths from her closet that she thought she would needed for staying at the mountain Inn. Placing them in the suitcase then looked around for her hiking boots that John got for her last Christmas. Zipping up her bag she felt someone place a hand on her shoulder, looking up in surprised to see Naru standing behind her. She had completely forgotten he was there.

"The police said they're sending someone over." He told her, looking about her room making her blush. Mai grabbed her bag and walked to her front door, sitting down to wait for the officer. Naru came a sat down next to her.

"You don't have to stay ya' know" she said quietly to him while looking into the distances at the darkening sky.

"Since we are leaving tomorrow, I might as well let you stay at my place so you don't make us late." Soundly slightly annoyed, angry, and tired all at once.

"Really?" looking at him surprised. "Thanks Naru!

"Yes, well where else would you stay? Stupid, you'd be useless to me if you were sick." He replied with a smirk.

"Stupid! Useless! Why I ad'a …" but she stopped, Mai turned serious... thinking about what had just been said. Pausing she added, "I could have been useless or dead right now if... if I didn't- "

"Have that animal instinct." Naru finish for her, looking at her with a twinge in sadness in his eyes like he had all ready thought about it.

It was a while till a police officer showed up. Both of them stood quickly and introduce them selves. After explaining to the officer what happened and what had been taken. Naru told the officer to call him if he found any thing. after the officer left they put her suitcase in Naru's trunk and left for his apartment.

* * *

Naru unlocked his door and let Mai in. After showing her where the kitchen and bathroom were he led her to the guestroom that was rarely ever used. He watched as she placed her suitcase on the bed. "My room is down the hall if you need any thing else." He told her and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Naru was glad that Mai had that sixth sense but hated the fact that she could have been hurt or worse, and he couldn't protect her. He knew that outside work she was alone but never thought something like this could happen.

Entering his own room he closed the door and picked his cell phone out of his pocket. He was going to call Lin to inform him that he was to pick them up at his house and that he was to buy train tickets for every one that was coming.

"Who's coming?" Lin asked. Naru was hoping the Chinese man could just work his magic and get them a train.

"Ms. Matsuzaki, Takigawa, John Brown, you, Mai, and myself." He repeated the list Mai told him.

"What about Ms. Hara?" Lin inquired with a lack of curiosity in his voice.*

"She has to work on her show in Iceland or something," He replied disinterested. Tiredly Naru looked at his watch, it was 15 minutes to ten. If he was going to be at his best he would have to go to bed soon. "Don't forget the equipment and we meet up at 9 am." He added and hung up, grabbing his usual nightwear. 'At least now I could keep an eye on Mai.' He thought as he took off his shirt.

* * *

_Mai was back in the empty dark space, suddenly she heard shots fire then screams of terror piecing the cold air. The screaming and the cries for help got louder, when she realized she was running to them. she could hear the frightened steps of people around her that she couldn't see. Fear and guilt racked her brain. "Why! Why did I argue with him?! I shouldn't have run away!" she cried into the empty space with tears streaming down her face. "I should be with him!" Mai felt blind as she ran through the chaos around her._

_Mai stopped when she heard more shots fired, hearing people around her fall with a thud to the ground, then grabbing her side as she felt the searing pain of the wound. 'What's going on? Who did I argue with?' she thought confused. 'Why is this happening?' Falling to the ground in pain she heard some one laugh, it was there__**, that laugh**__ among the gun shots, screams of terror and pleas of mercy that weren't granted. He had come back._

* * *

***the Kick Me Special is Mai's mother's tea blend in which before she died taught Mai how to make. Mai doesn't really know why her mother called it the that, but she kept the name any way.**

***some one had to mention her or something. (if she found out no one did, well lets say we'd be missing a few people) 0_0**

**by the way, the dreams will make sense soon and they will get to the Inn in the next chapter! stay tuned!**

**thank you for reading! now please review! =)**


	4. The Blushing Sakura Inn

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt or it's Characters. **

**please enjoy!**

* * *

Thursday, December 17th

Naru woke up hearing a knock at his door, he turned to look at his bed side clock it was 5:30 am. 'This better be important' he thought as he got up to open the door. When he opened the door he was surprised to see Mai standing in front of him wearing her pink pajamas with tears streaming down her face. "Mai what's wrong?" he asked cautiously putting his hand on her shoulder, his composure faltered a little.

"It was horrible." she said hugging him, burying her face in his chest. Unsure what to do he wrapped one arm around her slim shoulders and placed his other hand on her head.

"It's alright Mai, tell me what happened." He said softly, bringing her to sit on his bed. Hoping he was doing the right thing, trying to remember how Ayako calmed her down during cases were Mai had had nightmares.

"I was so scared! I couldn't see any thing and all the screaming!" she cried more tears came, slightly dampening his gray t-shirt that he wore to bed. He rubbed her back in a comforting manner. "People were get-getting shot and he was just laughing a-at it all."

"Mai, it's okay I'm here." He said gently tucking some of her hair behind her ear. "And nothing is going to get you." Making her face him He took a tissue from the box on his night stand and wiped the tears from her face. "Now go back to sleep I'll wake you up in a few hours."

"No, if I go back to sleep I'll just end up having another one of these horrible nightmares." Her voice was a little shaky but firm. It was too early in the morning to argue so he let this one go. Naru stood up and held out his hand.

"Come on then let's make breakfast." He said rather dully. Mai placed her hand in his and followed him to the kitchen.

* * *

Ayako, John, and Bou-san were all together waiting at the train station. John and the monk had been talking about work and Ayako was sitting on some of her luggage messing with her phone.

John then kindly offered to get them some drinks, which they both declined, so he went to get himself some thing. Leaving Ayako and Bou-san on their own.

"I wonder when they're going to show up," Ayako said as she looked at her watch, a little impatiently. "We've been waiting twenty minutes."

"I don't know, maybe Mai slept in again. You remember the last case right?" the Monk replied with a smile. "Naru had to go to her apartment, pick the lock after he knocked on it for like, ten minutes, then-"

"Okay! I get the point, will you stop rambling!" Ayako yelled frustrated which made the tall blond man laugh, which in turn made her angry. "What are you laughing at you stupid Monk?!"

Bou-san started laughing harder. 'she is so short tempered when she doesn't have her coffee' the thought mad him laugh harder "Hey! Don't get mad at me, I didn't do any thing!" Holding up his hands in mock surrender.

Just as Ayako was about to pumble Bou-san, John walked up with two cups of coffee in his hands. Stepping between them he handed Ayako a cup. "I guess I arrived in time. Here you go, I thought that you might like some." He said handing her the cup turning to Bou-san with a you owe me look. They both watched with amused faces as Ayako started to drink the coffee.

"Bou-san!" a shout came from the crowd making them all turn around to see Mai waving to them as she walked with Lin and Naru behind her. Bou-san smiled and waved back to his little sister figure with a smile. "Hey look they're here!" he said playfully to the miko. Annoyed, Ayako stood up and called a luggage boy over muttering something under her breath.

When they were all together Lin handed out the tickets and they boarded the train. Now it was only a three hour ride to the Sansaki area, followed by a ten minute taxi ride to the Inn.

* * *

The Blushing Sakura Inn was beautifully designed with solid maple wood located the top of a hill at the base of the mountain. The slopped roof was covered in untouched snow that glistened in the afternoon sun. There was a wrap around porch on the left side with a railing painted black, as well as the window frames, to compliment the light reddish brown maple wood. The porch over looked a garden with plenty of plants and rocks that surrounded a water feature near the center of the garden.

Mai was amazed at what she saw, she kept looking around at the mixture of tall pines trees, evergreens and oak trees that surrounded the area, covered in snow. She couldn't believe how clear the air was either, so fresh and crisp. She turned around to her friends to find that they too were in awe of their surrounding, well all except Naru and Lin.

'Go figure, emotionless as ever.' Mai thought bluntly as they all walked up the the entrance of the Inn. Naru stepped in front of the group as they walked through the entrance. The young woman behind the desk smiled at us as we walked in.

"Hello! Welcome to the Blushing Sakura! Do you have a reservation for your group?" the woman asked. 'I wonder why they call this place the Blushing Sakura, I haven't seen any sakura trees any where.' Mai wasn't really paying attention.

"Yes, we are from Shibuya Psychic Research." Naru said in a very authoritative voice. The woman looked surprised.

"Oh! Yes, my mother said that you would be coming to day. Hold on one moment while I go get her." She said rather excited and hurried off some where.

"She must be Mrs. Suzumi's daughter Kiki." Mai said absently, Bou-san, Ayako and John turned to look at her.

"You know these people?" Bou-san asked curiously. He was standing next to her holding his bags and some of Ayako's too.

"Well yeah, I spoke with them on the phone about the case. I kinda thought that she was shorter though…" she replied as her eyes studied the room carefully. 'Have I been here before…' Mai thought trying to find out why it seemed so familiar.

"You spoke to them? I always thought Naru or Lin did that." The monk stated looking at Mai, she looked rather dazed to him. "Are you okay?"

She turned to look at him breaking away from scenery around her. "Yeah, I'm fine." She said not realizing that Naru had been watching closely the entire time. But before Monk could press her, Kiki returned with Mrs. Suzumi.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, I'm so glad you're here!" Mrs. Suzumi said gratefully and bowed at Lin. 'Wow, this was a first. People usually think that crazy monk is the leader.' Ayako thought as she glanced at said monk. The older woman then looked from Bou-san to the rest of them.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but he is the boss." Bou-san said rather sheepishly as he pointed at Naru, who in fact was glaring at him.

Naru stepped forward and introduced him self. "I'm Shibuya Kazuya, I run Shibuya Psychic Research. These are My assistants, Lin Koujo and Taniyama Mai." Gesturing to them with his hand as they stepped up and bowed. "This is Takigawa Houshou, the monk. John Brown the priest and Matsuzaki Ayako the miko. They commonly work with us during cases such as this one."

"Yes, I see. I must apologize for my earlier mistake." She bowed to Naru. Then she turned to every one. "Hello, I'm Suzumi Chichi. It very nice to meet all of you, my husband and I own and run this inn with the help of our sons Yuki, Tora, and our daughter Kiki and her fiance Hyate Kisuke. You will meet them at some point today or tomorrow, I hope."

"Yes, thank you. Now I would like to get started right away, could you please lead us to the room we requested earlier." Naru asked trying to get things going. "And did our equipment make it here on time."

"Yes, we put it all in the room. Kiki can you please show them to their rooms after they're done, I need to help your father in the kitchen." She told her daughter and left.

"Well, follow me!" she said cheerfully.

* * *

The room was huge, at least that's what Mai thought looking about. There were several windows looking out into the forest, several bookcases lined the wall in front of a sofa set, a coffee table was in the middle, and several tables for the monitors to be set up on were on the far side of the room against the wall. A really small kitchen was in the corner of the room caught Mai's attention. 'Wow, they even have a small place for me to make tea like i asked.' she thought.

"This is one of our rec. rooms, most of our guest like to read in here while drinking tea or coffee. Would you like me to lead you to your rooms now?" Kiki asked from the door way. Naru looked at his group and all of their bags and decided that they would just be in the way.

"Sure." He told her. Every one followed her down the hall and up a flight of stairs, they turned right and came apon another hall way with lots of doors. Kiki stopped at the first door and turned to John, opening the door to the room, she smiled.

"This is your room, *Brown-san!" she said kindly to the young priest. Thanking her, he entered his room. The next room was given to Monk, then Ayako, Mai, Naru, and finally Lin.

'Why am I always last,' he thought a little disgruntled as he watched the retreating form of the short* black haired girl from his door way. He placed his two bags near the foot of his bed, noticing that it was rather large. He then walked over to the window and opened the blinds, taking a step back he looked in awe at the perfect view of the mountain in front of him. A small smile graced his features at the thought of this being Mai's idea, as if on cue a small knock came from the door. Lin went to the door and opened it, on the floor in front on his was a piece of paper.

_Dear Lin,_

_I hope you like your room! ;D I made special arrangements yesterday for every one, but don't tell Naru! He'd get really mad._

_Love,_

_Mai_

Looking down the hall he saw John, Ayako, and Bou-san all reading their notes with smiles, all of them wondering just about the same thing.

What did Mai do for Naru?

* * *

***i didn't want her to say Mr. Brown, cuz that would be awkward. ;P poor john.**

***to Lin she's short, to Mai she's kinda tall. Kiki is actually pretty normal when it comes to height.**

***by the way, i might refer to Monk as Monk or Bou-san or Takigawa depending on who's speaking.**

**So? what cha' think? was it good? please reviews are welcome!**


	5. Control Issues

**Naru can't control his employees, Mai can't control her dreams, Mike and Yuki can't control them selves! it seems everybody has control issues these days that they need to deal with!**

**I Don't Own Ghost Hunt or it characters! R&R!  
**

* * *

Thursday December 17th - some time around 4 or 5 pm

Naru set his suit case at the foot of the bed, he sat down on the black comforter smoothing out the soft fabric with his hand. Looking around the room he saw a dark cherry wood desk with a matching chair upholstered with a black leather seat. 'Interesting' he thought as he walked over to the matching dark cherry wood dresser, opening it to place his usual black attire when he saw several shirts were already inside along with some pants.

He pulled out a shirt, a classic dark blue button down, and looked at the tag. Naru put it on the bed and took out the next one, another classic white button down and looked at the tag. He putting that one on the bed he grabbed the next shirt, a black turtle neck, looked at the tag. Naru went through the other seven shirts and three pairs of pants in the same manner, all of of them different but with two things in common: they were all new and they were all in his size.

"This has to be Mai's doing." He said aloud as his grip tightened on the rainy day gray button down shirt in his hand.

* * *

Mai sat down on her bed after putting all of her cloths, which wasn't much, in the small maple wood dresser. Out of all the rooms that she had set up, she had no requirements for her own. Mai looked through the window thinking about earlier that morning.

**Flash Back**

"_No Mai!" Naru said aggravated. _

"_Please Naru!" She begged. "Just this once!"_

"_Mai we have a schedule. If we make any detours, we will be late." He said sternly but she wasn't giving up that easily._

"_No we won't! It will only take me five minutes to get the money out and then we'd be out of there!" she argued her face tinted a light shade of red._

"_Give me one good reason for letting you go to the bank when Lin gets here."Glaring at his watch. _

"_That's none of you damn business! I have my reasons!" she shouted at him, attracting the attention of a group of people standing at the corner._

"_Fine, just stop shouting your making a fool of your self." Turning away from her as Lin drove up. "Stupid"_

**End Flash Back**

Sighing she got up and rummaged through her bag. Grabbing an envelope Mai left her room to go search for Kiki.

* * *

For the most part the halls were empty as she made her way down to the front desk. 'Naru's probably gonna tell every one to go to base soon.' Thinking quietly to her self. 'I have to make this quick.' The stairs were fairly quiet except for a few squeaks, as soon as she was off the steps she quickly hurried down the hallway. Turning the corner she ran smack dab into, well she didn't really know who, as she fell backwards. Landing on the hard floor, wincing at as she felt the soon to be bruise on her forehead.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! Are you all right Miss?" a male voice asked making Mai look up, to find a very attractive teenage boy holding out his hand to assist her.

"Ah… Yes! Yes, I'm fine. Thank you!" Mai said turning red as she took his hand. The young white haired teen helped her up with a smile an amazing smile Mai might add. "Are you okay?" pointing at his head.

"Absolutely! By the way I'm Yuki, it's nice to meet you… uh Miss?" he inquired.

"I'm Mai, and the pleasures mine!" she replied with a grin. 'Yuki is very charming' She thought.

"So it is…" he paused as he kissed her hand meeting her brown eyes with own light blue eyes, making her blush even more. (if that was possible)

"Yuki! I hope your not sexually harassing our customers again," a stern voice came from behind them. Mai looked up to see Kiki walking towards them, with her arms crossed. The look on her face suggested that she was rather annoyed at said teen. (honestly if there were ever a time for a sweat drop, it would be now.)

"No, no, no." He said waving his hands in front of him. "Why would you think that?"

Meeting Yuki's look with a glare she turned to Mai and smiled. "Was there some thing you needed?" she asked directing Mai towards the front desk with her as she walked away from Yuki, who was waving good bye.

Returning his wave as she stuttered. "uh-uh- Yes!" handing Kiki the envelope. "This is for the customized rooms, ya' know, the clothes and stuff."

"Ah! Yes I do, thank you! You are such a kind girl to do that for your friends." Taking the envelope and putting in her apron pocket.

"Well, I owe a lot to them… anyway I have to get to work! See ya'!" she said waving as she ran off down the hall and turned the corner, this time being careful not running into anyone.

* * *

When every one arrived at base, Mai being last Naru noticed. He started to assign jobs, he turned to Mai and tossed her the thermastate. "Mai, take temperatures. John, go with her. Both of you will set up the cameras when your done."

John grabbed a clipboard, paper, and pen then they both hurried out of the room. Naru turned to Ayako and Bou-san. "Ms. Matuzaki, Takigawa-san take a look around and if you run into any of the employees or other guests tell them to stop by here later for interviews."

"You got it!" Bou-san grabbed Ayako's arm poulling her out of the room. "Let's go!" =D

"Get your hands off me you stupid Monk!" she protested. Shaking his head Naru turned to setting up the monitors with Lin.

* * *

"So John, how is everything at your church?" Mai asked while they were waiting for temperature.

"It's been great, actually. We've had lots of people come for mass and my best mate, Micheal from back home came to visit." John said cheerfully.

Picking up the thermastate she turned to him. "22s celceius. Really? Is he a priest too?" she asked curiously.

"No, but he is a Reverend." John wrote down the temp. and they moved to the next room. He continued when she gave him a puzzled look. "A Reverend is just like a priest, but they can marry and have kids."

"oh! I see… why didn't you…? Well…" Placing the small divice on a near by table. Slightly embarassed she turned to John, not willing to finish her question. "Sorry you don't have to answer, if you don't want to."

"No it's okay, Why didn't I become a Reverend?" The young priest stood thoughtfully for a moment. "I guess I felt that this was my calling, and Mike was, more often then not, with women. When we were in school, our other friends used to say that he had _control issues,_ if you get my meaning."

Mai and John simultaneously burst into fits of laughter.

* * *

Mean while... with Monk and Ayako

"Do you think this 'ghost problem' has scared away their customers?" Bou-san asked as they walked through the south coridor of the Inn. They had been walking around for thirty minutes and only saw a few customers, two teenage boys, and Kiki's fiance.

"Maybe, if I heard a hotel or inn was haunted, I wouldn't go there." She replied as she looked out the windows they were passing.

"You would avoid a haunted hotel ever if you were able to help them?" he asked appalled.

"Hey! You better not be critizing me! I do a lot of work at the hospital!" she snapped at him.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to hit a nerve, you are great when it comes to helping us (coughMaicough) when we (coughshe) get hurt on cases." He said honestly.

"I'll have you know I do go down to the morge and help the spirits there." Ayako told him.

"Let me guess they pay you to make them look good." He joked. "We help the sick and the dead!"

THWACK!

"OW!" Monk yelped landing on the floor. "What was that for! What did I do?!" He called to her confused as he watched her stomp off. "I was joking…Ayako!?"

* * *

Mai and John had run into Yuki when they were checking the kitchen. He was obviously glad to see Mai, since then he had took it as his 'Duty' to help them. After they were done with the various gest room Yuki them showed the way to the families rooms. They are now in the last room that was used as an office.

"You guys should really come here during the spring and summer season. The sakura trees are in full bloom and there's hardly any annoying bugs here either." Yuki told them. Then he started to describe the different flowers and the mountain. Mai liked to listen to him, he just seemed so into what he was describing that you felt like you were there. It was very poetic.

* * *

_The breeze was wonderful, carrying the scent of sweet cherry blossums in full bloom. Mai took a deep breath, she looked around herself at the beautiful trees above her head and the dirt path beneath her feet. Realizing now that she was some how in a dream looked to her right to find that she and Naru were holding hands. _

"_Isn't this place beautiful? I wish it could stay like this forever. You, me, the mountain and the sakura trees." He said softly with one of his gorgous smiles. _

"_Yes, I do too." She replied looking up at him, feeling nothing but love._

_Suddenly the scene changed dramaticly. She was now in a dirty run down house._

"_No! Get away from me!" Mai yelled at the large disgusting man who was holding her wrist. But the more she struggled to pull away the tighter his grip on her wrist became._

"_It's funny how we meet again, my sweet. Why don't you come to daddy?" he said mockingly, pulling her towards him. She could smell thick scent of alcohol on his breath. _

"_You are not MY father! A father wouldn't have murdered my mother!" she spat, hatred coated every word. "I came here to get my things and leave!"_

_She knee him in the crouch as hard as she could, breaking the hold on her wrist as she ran to her room to grab her most prized possessions, stuffing them in a bag she rushed to the door. "YOU'LL REGRET THIS YOU BITCH!!" she heard him yell. _

_Tears came to her eyes as she slammed the door open and ran. The night was heavy but that didn't stop her from running and she didn't stopping until she was out of the towns limits. Mai collapsed on the side of the road sobs shaking her body._

"_Mai, be careful these spirits are different." She heard Naru warn as everything faded to black.  
_

* * *

Naru stood up from his chair when he heard foot steps hurry down the hall. When he was half way to the door John rushed in carrying Mai in his arms, with another teen behind him. "John, what happened?" Naru demanded.

"I don't know, Yuki was talking and then all of a sudden she passed out!" The young priest explained, worried that Mai had some how got hurt. He gently placed her on the couch. John has cared about many people but Mai was different, she like a sister.

Naru turned to the other boy. "What about you?" he asked not really caring for his opinion, smirking when he noticing that the this 'Yuki guy' was taller then Mai but shorter then himself.

"At first nothing happened." Yuki stated obviously freaking out. "But then she started to cry! Is she okay?"

"Mr. Suzumi get tea, John go with him. If you bump into Takigawa-san and Ms. Matsuzaki, tell them what happened." Naru instructed watching them both hurry out of the room. He walked over to Mai and sat down on the edge of the couch. He felt her forehead. 'If she's not sick, then what could have happen?' He thought curiously. 'A dream, possibly, dealing with the case.'

"Lin, where is my note book?" he asked the tall chinese man. "I need to take some notes."

* * *

**I'm am so tired! it's like 12-something and there is no coffee (0_0). i totally simpathize with mytruthaboutlife. **

***BTW this Yuki is in no way related to the Yuki in Fruits Basket!  
**

**Please Review!!**


	6. You Owe Me

**Wow! i hope i didn't take to long updating, any way please R&R**

**i don't own ghost hunt or it's characters!**

* * *

Its still the same day. (seems pretty long though...)

Naru was sitting in the seat across from Mai, who was sleeping on the couch. Ayako and Monk were working on interviews in another room, while John went around with Yuki to set up cameras. Lin, on the other hand was sitting quietly at his desk typing on his laptop like he always did.

Momentarily he stopped typing to stretch, he was really working hard on his book so far he has completed…… wait. You didn't know Lin was writing a book? Don't look so surprised, what else did you think he was typing when Naru wasn't looking? The tall Chinese man got up and looked around. He walked to the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes." He told Naru dully and headed to the nearest bathroom, he drinks too much coffee. Walking out of the room he left the two teens alone.

* * *

Naru listened to Lin's footsteps as he walked down the hall until they faded away. He looked up at Mai and then down at his 'notes'. He had been trying to calculated the amount of money* had been spent on the clothes and how much she had gotten out of the bank that morning. It didn't add up, there was still a lot of money missing. Naru looked at the sleeping girl in front of him, tapping his pen against his lips, wondering what she did with all of it.

Tired of waiting he got up and went over to the couch and leaning down he tapped her on the forehead a few times. Mai woke up abruptly, shooting up into sitting position almost hitting *Naru in the process. Looking around frantically she calms down when she sees Naru standing next to her. "Is something wrong Mai?"

"No, I just had a nightmare…" She trailed off, looking out the window, thinking about what she just saw. Taking a few breaths she turned back to Naru, who was now sitting on the edge of the couch near her feet with his note book and pen in hand.

"Could you tell me about this dream?" He asked looking her into her chocolate brown eyes. "It might be relevant to the case."

"Naru…" she paused thinking about the warning and people who were portrayed in her dream, the abusive drunk, the thoughtful/poetic lover, and the woman caught between them. "These spirits are different."

"Spirits… so there is more than one?" he asked, in a rather rhetorical way. Writing something down then gestured to Mai to continue.

"Yes, I think there are many here." Mai told him, choosing her next words carefully. "Trapped, but not all of them are dangerous."

"I see." Was all he said before getting up and walking over to the window to think. Mai sat there just looking at him for a few minutes, imagining what it would be like to actually walk under sakura trees holding hands with him. 'That would be nice' she thought.

"Mai, tea and be quick about it." He order. 'Never mind' killing every nice thought in her head. Huffing a 'fine' very curtly as she got up. 'Why does he have to be so blunt and please & thank you be nice once in a while!' she thought angrily to herself. At the door she passed Lin, who looked curiously at her as she stormed down the hall.

'I wonder what Naru did this time.' He thought vaguely as he returned to his laptop. 'Alright, I have a dead line to meet… stupid editor.'

* * *

"Hi Miss, what can I do for you?" asked an older man with a smile when she entered the kitchen. He wasn't really old but some were in his fifties old, he had graying black hair and was about average height with a strong build from doing a lot of physical labor.

Mai returned smiled politely. "I just need to make some tea for my boss, if you don't mind!"

"Of course, are you working with the ghost hunters?" He asked as he handing her the china ware tea pot off the counter. He walked over to the various cabinets and pulled out a large wooded box and placed it on the granite counter top in front of her.

"Yes, I guess you can call us that. Are you Mr. Suzumi?" She asked even though she was pretty sure it was him. Mai opened the large wooden box surprised at how many varieties were inside it. 'Wow they almost have more tea than I do at the office!'

"Yes I am, but please call me Zazo. My family owns the Inn, I've been living here since I was a boy. Back then this place was always bustling with people because they were excited by the supernatural occurrences." Zazo told her with a far off look in his eye, as if he were there. Then he looked saddened and with a little disappointment he added. "Well, not everyone."

"What do you mean?" Mai asked pouring water into the pot and setting it up on the large gas stove. Turning back the him. "Was there some one wasn't?"

"My Great Grandfather, Gin. He refused to let me live here until I was around Yuki's age, I assume you've met him?" Mai nodded quickly, eager to hear more. "My mother always told me it was because he witnessed something horrible here when he was a small child. It wasn't until the day before he died did he told me what he saw, and then I finally understood."

Mr. Suzumi stopped and looked out the windows* into the snow covered garden. Mai, nodded and waited for him to continue but when he didn't she asked quietly. "What did he see?"

"A Massacre." Was all he said as he continued to stare out the windows. Mai gasped as she remembered one of her most recent dreams.

"Zazo, I'm so sor – " she said when out of no where the tea pot exploded with a bang, spraying boiling water and shards of china on them and every where else. Mai fell to the floor with her arms up defensively in front of her face, shrieking in pain when the hot water hit her arms. Mr. Suzumi had also fell to the floor, covering his face in a similar fashion.

Mai looked up stunned, confused, and completely unaware that she had various gashes on both of her arms to go with the burns. The gas burner's flame caught on the dish rag, spreading the fire quickly to the wooded box on the counter. Before Mai knew what was happening a tall orange haired teenage boy, Kiki, Yuki, and John had burst into the kitchen.

John ran to Mr. Suzumi and Mai with Yuki close behind him, the priest pulled Mai away from the fire. The orange haired guy punched through the safety glass to grab the fire extinguisher and tossed it to Kiki. Who in turn sprays down the fire before it could cause any more damage, like she's done it a hundred times.

Mai was in a state of shock until she felt a sudden pain, gasping she looked at her arms to see large cuts on her arm. "Oh gosh, Mai you got burned and your bleeding!" exclaimed Yuki moving from where he had been helping his father, who had also been burned but managed not to get any cuts.

The orange haired guy came over (his own hand was bleeding) and scooped her up in his arms. "Hey, I'm *Tora. We should get you to the hospital to take care of your arms." He told her walking out of the kitchen and into the dinning room.

Yuki and John hurried after them. "Tora! Wait you idiot!" Yuki protested making a grab for Tora's shirt.

"Yes, wait!" John added. "Our group has a doctor, she'll be fine."

Tora stopped, paused and looked down at Mai. "Is that true?"

"Yes, and um… you can put me down now." She said looking hesitantly into his coal colored eyes. He walked back to John and Yuki near the table and set her down on top of it. Mai dangled her legs over the edge or the table. "Yuki, do you think you could get Ayako please? Though I do think they heard the explosion…"

As if on cue Ayako, Bou-san, Lin, and Naru came into the room equipped with a first aid kit. Ayako saw Mai and rushed over. "Mai! What happened?" Opening the kit taking out the hydrogen peroxide, pain medicine, and bandages.

Mai looked at the faces of her friends until her eyes met Naru's. "I was in the kitchen talking to Mr. Suzumi while I was making tea and the tea pot exploded, but it sounded more like a gunshot." She explained, not looking at any one else but Naru, who nodded getting her hidden meaning.

"So it exploded with out a warning? That's freaky!" He said watching over Ayako' shoulder Mai as she got her arms bandaged up. "Ayako, your not hurting her are you?"

"Monk, I swear on all that is holy, if you don't shut up! I'll send you to the hospital!" she said harshly. John took this precise moment to go stand by Naru and Lin, away from the ever quarreling couple.

"Hey, ya' old prune! There's nothing to get upset about!" He shot back. Ayako carefully put down Mai's arm and turned to the Bou-san. Said monk shrank back in fear when he saw the look of rage on the miko's face.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME?" she yelled at him getting in his face, making him shrink back more. "You stupid, insolent, mongrel! If it weren't for the fact that you're so go in bed, I would have beaten you dead by now!"

Everyone (and i mean seriously, everyone, even Naru and Lin) stopped and looked at them, with undoubtedly surprised looks on their faces. Ayako and Monk's faces both turned a crimson red at what she had just said. John was the first to regain his composure and walked up to Mai pretending to be genuinely interested in the bandages on her arms.

"This is amazing Ayako-san, how carefully you wrapped the bandages! Taking care of injuries is really one of your specialties. They must really be missing you at the hospital right now." John complimented, giving Bou-san and Ayako another one of his you-owe-me looks.

"Yes! Ah, yes they do. **Ahem.**" She cleared her throat. "What I mean is – Of course they do! That's why they pay me so much!" She boasted. Cleaning up the remainder of Mai's cuts quickly finishing up. Giving Mai a quick hug, she told her to take two pain pills a day and to b more careful.

Then she motioned for Tora to come over, so she could fix his hand. Seeing as Tora wasn't hurt that bad, Ayako finished quickly. Packing the rest of the stuff in the kit she turn and walked over to Yuki, who had yet to recover from what just happened. "Was your father injured?" she asked.

The white hair teen nodded dumbly, taking her hand, he wordlessly led her into the kitchen. Mai had been watching this and glanced at the still red Bou-san. Smirking when she saw him looking after Ayako.

"Ya' know, Bou-san," she said slyly turning to him. "Yuki is notorious around here for sexually harassing – "

But before she could finish Bou-san was hurrying after them. "I knew it!" Mai exclaimed hopping off the table, she walked over to John, Lin, and Naru holding out her hand. "John, Naru you lose." She addressed them smugly. "You guys own me and Lin twenty bucks each!"

Scowling Naru pulled out his wallet. "Fine."

* * *

After the Suzumi family was done cleaning up the kitchen, they called everyone down to tell them that dinner was going to be late and that they should relax in their respective rooms.

"Aw man and I'm hungry too!" Bou-san complained as they walked back to there rooms. Naru had told them earlier that they were done for the day.

"Sorry, I guess it's my fault." Mai said feeling guilty for making them hungry. John who was a head of them turned the corner of their hallway and, seeing as his door was right there, quietly slipped into his room.

Bou-san looked down at Mai and mused her hair playfully when he reached his own door. "Hey! Don't worry kiddo, I'll survive. Heck, I was only worried about the Mistress Dragon over there. You know how she gets when she hungry!"

SMACK!

"Ow! Ayako! It was a joke!" he said rubbing the back of his head. Mai giggled, walking passed him to her room.

She quietly closed the door and plopped on to her bed. 'Man! I'm so tired! And its just the first day!' she thought exhausted. Closing her eyes she lied down on the soft comforter, slightly wincing, as she curled up. Mai's arms still hurt but it just made her feel even more exhausted. The last thing Mai remember thinking before she fell asleep, was the she was glad that she put the condoms in Monk's room.

* * *

_Once again Mai was floating in the empty dark space, looking around she saw Naru and smiled. She hurried over to him and grabbed the hand that he held out to her. He then led her to the office, where she had been talking with Yuki and John. They weren't exactly in the room, they were floating above it._

_Naru, placing a hand on her shoulder, nodded his head towards the couple in the room. The woman was very beautiful with long brown hair and soft green eyes, she was of average height but looked lean as if she had been malnourished when she was young. The man that was with her was taller the than she was, he had kind blue eyes and slightly long jet black hair. Mai couldn't hear what they were saying but it was obvious that they were arguing about some thing._

_The woman left the room, Mai could see her head for the near by door that lead to the hiking path she had been on earlier with Naru, but this time it wasn't spring it was winter. "Wait Hana!" the man called sadly. "You don't have a coat!" Sighing he leaned against the door frame for support, all he did was watch her pass by the window as she walked off in to the snow covered trees._

_"__No go after her! Hurry! Don't just stand there!" Mai ordered him, knowing he couldn't hear her. She looked desperately at Naru,who shook his head sadly. They both knew what was going to happen next._

_The Massacre._

* * *

***Naru had been looking over her shoulder at the bank when she wasn't paying attention.  
**

***have you guys/girls ever notice how Mai always seems to hit some one when she wakes up?  
**

***there are windows every where in the Inn, I'm pretty sure all the rooms (except the closets) have windows  
**

***Tora means tiger in Japanese. I'm kinda going for a Hatsu-Haru personality with this guy.**

**Thanks for reading! please review! (looks at clock) wow its really late! c u later! ^_^**


	7. Proof

**Hey to the wonderful people who read my stories! thank you for waiting! i know that this chappy is shorter than the last few, BUT i have already started working on the next chappy so don't worry! :D**

**Please R&R**

**Disclaimer: i don't own Ghost Hunt or its characters!**

* * *

Friday, December 18th

Mai woke up and stretched, rubbing the sleep from her eyes she noticed it was dark out. 'Was time did I fall asleep?' she looked confused at the clock that was on her bed side table.

"HOLY COW! ITS TWO IN THE MORNING" she exclaimed. 'How come no one woke me up dinner! Ugh, those jerks!' She hopped off her bed and decided she was going to take a shower and change her cloths, then go for a walk.

Rummaging through the small dresser she pulled out blue sweater, and khaki skirt that went past her knees. Careful not to hit her arms on any thing she pulled on the sweater and slipped into her skirt. Turning to her suit case she pulled on some socks and then grabbed her boots and jacket.

Quietly she sneaked out of her room and down the hall way carrying her jacket and boots in her hands. Mai froze when she came to Ayako's door, which was wide open. Peering in she found that no one was in there. 'Some body is keeping another some body company!' she thought in a sing song voice. When she got to the stairs she stayed near the outside of the steps, hoping they wouldn't creek. Turning left, she went in the direction of the door she saw earlier that lead to the garden.

Mai slowly slide the door open, slipping out as quickly as possible, she shut it behind her. The cold snowy night was quiet, as she walked across the wrap around porch to the stairs at the end of it. She pulled on her jacket and then zipped up the sides of her boots. Mai hopped down the steps, glad that the fresh snow muffled the sound. 'Now is as good of a time as ever to explore the garden.' She thought.

Looking up at the full, soon to be setting moon that made it easy to navigate the large garden, she smiled, taking a deep breath she took her first step into the garden.

About an two and half hours later Mai found her self sitting on a bench under a bare sakura tree facing the mountain. It hadn't taken her long to explore the garden so she decide find the path that she saw in her dream. It took a while but she found it. The trees framed a trail that led up into the mountain. Mai leaned back in the bench and closed her eyes only to have them snap open when she heard a stick snap.

"There's no need to be frightened, it's just me." Said Tora as he walked towards her. Mai sighed with relief and smiled. "May I join you?" he asked gesturing to the space next to her.

"Of course!" she said glad he wasn't a ghost or monster of some sort.

Tora sat down next to her and looked off into the distance. He was wearing a light blue jacket and black jeans. He was about the same height at Yuki. 'In fact' she thought curiously. 'They kinda look like twins with different hair colors.'

"Hey Tora, are you and Yuki…?" Voicing her thoughts.

"Are we twins? No, I'm just a year younger than he is." He replied simply, even though it looked like it bothered him.

"Sorry." She said softly shuffling her shoes in the snow.

"No, its all right. We kinda get it a lot anyway, besides if he didn't act so perverted all the time I wouldn't mind but…" he trailed off.

Mai giggled, which made him smile. "I can see why he likes you, your very pretty when you laugh."

This sudden compliment made her blush. "Th-thank you!"

"Ya' know I never expected to see any one out here, usually I'm the only one." He said with a sad smile. Mai looked at the mountain and the trees, thinking about how they would looked in the late spring and early summer. The mountain must be the most beautiful place she had ever visited in her dreams. 'They must have been so happy, Hana and her lover.' She was so lost in thought that she barely noticed that she was so cold that she was shivering.

Mai looked up in surprise when Tora put his arm around her shoulders. He looked back at her and grinned. "Sorry, I usually don't do things like this, but you look really cold and your shaking."

"Oh then, ah… thanks." Now that she thought about it she did feel really cold. "Maybe we should head back."

Tora looked at his watch and nodded. "Yeah, it's a little past five. I have to help Kiki with breakfast soon." He said taking off his gloves and ten handing them to her. "Here, these might help."

Mai nodded and pulled them on over her cold hands. 'Wow, his hands must be really warm.' Together they got up started their hike back to the Inn. Now that it was lighter out Mai could fully appreciate the scenery around her. They told each other jokes and stories and a couple of times Tora pointed some animal tracks in the snow.

It was almost like a date.

* * *

Naru woke some time after six, though he wished that he could have slept in longer (Those beds are just so darn comfy, that even Naru can't resist them!). He went to his dresser and pulled out the dark blue button down with the black jeans. Going to his suitcase he pulled out his black boots and the wool socks socks Mai had got him for Thanksgiving. Which reminded him that he was hungry and in need of some tea.

When he got to the dining area he was surprised to see Mai sitting down at the table with some tea talking to one of the guys he saw yesterday. 'Who was he again Tor – some thing? Why is Mai smiling like that? Was it something that guy did?' Naru thought annoyed. Walking up he greeted her with a nod and sat down across from her.

He took the newspaper from the center of the table and snapped it open. "Is there something wrong Mai?" he asked with a smirk.

Mai, who had been talking to Tora just a minute ago stopped completely when she saw Naru sit down in from of her. She snapped her gaping mouth shut. She had never, never saw Naru in normal clothes before. It had always been black long sleeve shirt, black pants, black jacket, black – well she could go on and on till she got to his socks.

Tora just stood there looking between the two, wondering why Mai was acting so strange. Shrugging his shoulders he went up the Naru. "Good morning Shibuya-san, can I get you any thing?" he asked politely. He did work there after all.

Naru glanced up at him then back to the paper he was reading. "Some tea, would be fine." He replied.

"Any particular flavor?" Tora asked.

"What ever Mai is have will do." He said turning the page. Tora nodded and left for the kitchen, for a few moments it was quiet.

Only a few.

Mai stood abruptly and came around to Naru's side of the table. Naru raised an eye brow. "What?"

"I have never seen you wear normal clothes!" she said astonished, examining his shirt.

"I've never seen you use your brain." He deadpanned.

"Why you son of – " she glared up at him.

"Now Mai lets not get violent." He said ignoring the daggers sent his way.

"I'll have you know I actually was gathering information." She told him curtly while returning to her seat. Naru looked up and met her gaze, closing the newspaper he set it back down on the table.

"Really?" turning all of his attention to her. Mai nodded and cleared her throat.

"Mrs. Suzumi is Mr. Suzumi's third wife." She told him. "The first one died in one of the kitchen fires and other one was found murdered, she was Yuki's and Tora's mother."

"That would explain the different hair types." He commented, Lin could probably look this up and give him more details. "Any thing else?"

"Yeah, I had a dream last night. There was this couple and they were in the office arguing about some thing and the woman ran out. The guy called after her, I think he called her Hana."

Naru got up and started to walk away. "Wait Naru! Where are you going? What about breakfast?" Mai hurried after him and grabbed his sleeve.

"I going to get Lin, we have work to do so just send something to base." He told her and left. Mai stood there for a few moments and the walked back to her seat. Tora came back in carrying a tray with two cups of tea.

"Hey where did he go?" He asked placing the tea in front of her.

"That jerk! He went to base, he said that I should send something over there for him and Lin." She told him disgruntled.

"Oh, then I'll go whip some then' up." He replied rolling his eyes and left again for the kitchen.

"Naru, you workaholic!" she huffed and drank some tea.

* * *

John stretched a little and walked to his window. He really did like this room. There was a bible on the nightstand, the room its self was painted a sky blue which made the mahogany wood furniture pop.

After he took a shower and toweled off he pulled on a sweater and khaki pants, then grabbed his wool socks that Mai gave him for thanksgiving. He opened his door and stepped into the hall way unprepared at what he saw before him.

Ayako was walking out of Monk's room, only wearing one of Monk's shirts. John froze were he was turning a very very deep shade of red. He had never seen her like that and he couldn't even think about what they had been doing in Monk's room. Ayako looked up and saw him, she gave him a little wave and slipped inside her room.

John quickly hurried down the stairs and into the dining room, hoping that Mai was already wake. When he saw Mai he went over and sat down next to her. "Good Morning Mai!"

"Hi John! Are you okay? You seem kind of flustered." She asked curiously.

He wasn't really sure of what to say, looking around he only saw a few other guest. "Hey where's Lin-san and Kazuya-san?" he asked trying to change the subject.

"They're working. John what happened?" she persisted leaning closer to him.

"Okay fine!" he gave in. "IsawayakocomeoutofMonk'sroomwearinghisshirt!"

"WHAT! Are you serious!" she exclaimed. (can you believe she got all that?)

John nodded his face turning red once again. Yuki came out of the kitchen carrying a tray of food. He walked up to Mai and placed in front of her. "Food for my Lady!" he said and gave her a kiss on the cheek, making it Mai's turn to blush.

"Thank you Yuki!" she replied with a smile.

"All in a days work!" he said cheerfully and moved to John. "Is there any thing I can get you?"

John looked at Mai's plat, it looked good to him. "I'll have what she has, please."

Yuki nodded and left. Once he was out of ear shot Mai turned back to John. "Hey, didn't you put a camera in that hall way?"

"Yeah and there's one over there too." He pointed to the corner of the room. "Why?"

Lin was going over the footage of that morning to see if any thing supernatural had happened. While looking at the camera from the hall he watched Mai sneak out, Naru walking down to the dining room, John opening his door, Ayako coming out of Monk's room,…… wait. He rewound the video. He paused the tape and quirked an eye brow.

He tapped Naru on the shoulder. "Is that enough proof for you?"

* * *

**Thanks for reading! i hope it was good, even though there was a lot of fluff.**

**i might have to up the rating in the next chapter to M just to be safe. if you don't meet the requirements of the age limit on M rated stories, i warn you now. There is going to be some graphic violence dealing with the massacre. though I'm not going to try and stop from reading, that's your choice.**

**Any way thank you and please Review! ;3**


	8. the Unbeaten Path

**Hello! I'm so happy to inform you that this story has surpassed A Night in the Woods by chapters and reviews! this is my longest story yet! XD So thank you for your support! =D**

**Also this is the chapter were i have to up the rating, SO you have been Warned!**

**Please R&R**

**Disclaimer: i don't own ghost hunt or its character! (i just have my lovely OCs)**

* * *

Friday, December 18th (same day)

After breakfast nothing really happened for the rest of the morning. Naru wanted to check out the trails, seeing how all of Mai's dreams tended to involve them. Every one grabbed their coats, boots, and scarves and headed outside. Then the group was to split up into two teams of three. Naru, Lin, and Mai went around to the trail that Mai had been on earlier that morning. Monk, John, and Ayako went to other way to check out the newest trails and sightings that witnesses talked about during their interviews.

"Is this it Mai?" Naru asked. She nodded leading them to the bench she was at earlier with Tora. The three of them stopped and rested for a few minutes before moving on.

"This is were I was this morning, I have this strong feeling that Hana's spirit spends a lot of time here, thinking about the past." She told them.

Moving on Naru and Lin took the lead, keeping to the path. As they continued on the trail into the woods, Mai felt as if she were not really there. Before she knew it Lin and Naru were no longer in front of her and she was by herself. Looking around Mai found that she was also no longer on a trail, she couldn't even see the trail from were she was.

'This is weird, how did I get here?' she thought as she continued to follow her instincts further in to the trees. 'Is this a hill?' noticing the slight incline of the ground to her left. Suddenly her foot caught on a root, falling forward she landed on an icy patch of snow covered ground. Trying to get up she slipped again on some the ice making her tumble down the side of the hill. Barely missing a tree, the momentum kept her rolling until she came to a painful stop by hitting a rather large bush.

"Ow! That was cold and it hurt." She grumbled rubbing her side. 'Man! That is going to hurt more in the morning.'

Getting up Mai dusted the snow off herself and did her best to get the stray leaves out of her brown hair. Looking up she saw that it had started to snow again. 'Great' she thought sarcastically. Turning her negative thoughts away from how cold it was going to be, she looked around at her more immediate surroundings. Surprisingly enough she found her self standing next to the edge of a small cliff.

"Whoa! Look at that view." She said aloud astonished. Stepping closer she looked over the edge, it wasn't that high up, only about fifteen or twenty feet. 'There is like, a perfect view of the inn and the sakura trees from here! its so beautiful!' Mai thought, trying to take the amazing site. Suddenly she felt an ominous feeling like something sinister was behind her. Mai was about to turn around and face what ever it was when she received a hard shove from behind, sending her over the edge.

And all she could remember was falling and her own scream, before she lost consciousness.

* * *

_Mai suddenly found her self walking on one of the paths outside the Inn. 'These must be what Hana's memories' She thought as she moved through the ankle deep snow, rubbing her arms for warm. 'Its so cold.'_

_It w_as quiet, to quiet for anybody's_ liking. 'Like the calm before the storm' she thought remembering the times she spent with her mother during a day like this. Some how her mother always knew when a storm was coming._

_Suddenly she was pulled from her thoughts when she heard gun shots fired. 'Oh God! Its coming from the Inn!' Fear shot through her entire body, Byakuya was still there! Without thinking she started running back, she was so afraid she'd lose another one of the people she loved and she wasn't about to let that happen again._

_Coming out of the trees, she saw smoke coming from the kitchen. There were more gun shots and people screaming. She hurried to the back door near the office hoping he was still there. Slamming the door open she found a group of children huddling in the corner, fear in there eyes. "Go! Get out of here! Run into the woods, there is a cave near the base of the mountain. Hide there! Go now!" she yelled at them pulling the smallest one to his feet. As the others hurried out the door._

"_Bu – but Onee - san!" the little-est boy protested._

"_No Gin! Listen to me, you have to go now!" Picking him up and handing him to one of the older children. "Take care of them! Don't let any of them out of you sight." with that she began running through the halls trying to find her lover. Every where she went there she found screaming people or dead bodies of people who had been her friends._

_Mai ran to the front of the building, pushing past others, she finally reached the door running into one of the raiders. He was carrying a sword, another woman was lying at his feet with her throat cut, blood pooled all around her. Hana was too horrified to move as the man walked towards her, smiling evilly as he licked the end of his blade. "Your next!"_

_A shot was fired and the man before her fell dead to the ground, blood ooze from the bullet hole in the side of his head. She heard Byakuya tell her to move, he was holding pistol in his hands. He shook her by the shoulder but no matter what he did she couldn't move._

"_Hana, come on lets go!" he could hear more shots being fired and people were coming their way and he was afraid. Mai could hear it in his voice, fear and it made her own fears even worse. "Hana we can't sta –"_

_He stopped abruptly, a blade pierced his chest from behind. going through him and almost cutting her. Horrified, she watched the light leave his eyes, he had been stabbed through the heart. In slow motion she watched him fall slowly to the ground. "No!" she screamed tears streaming down her face. She knelt down next to him, shaking him hoping that he would wake up. "You can't leave me! You said it was going to be me and you forever!"_

"_I told you bitch." Mai flinched when she heard the voice. Looking up she saw her 'father', he laughed viciously as he grabbed her by the hair, pulling her up to his level. "I told you, if any one messes with me, this is what they will get."_

_Mai hated him. She hated the smell of alcohol, his screwed up face,she hated him more than Hana did now. Mai felt the hatred of Hana course through her body. she looked down at her dead love and the pistol that was still in his hand. She made a grab for the gun._

_Suddenly Mai wasn't Hana any more, she felt as if she had been pulled out of Hana's body. Mai felt strong arms around her shoulders, holding her back, looking up she saw Naru. He looked down at her with the saddest look she had ever seen on his face. "I couldn't let this spirit do that to you." Was all he said looking away._

"_Naru? What do you mean?" she asked confused._

_Then Mai heard two simultaneous shots fired. Turning around she saw the horrid man dead on the ground, a bullet hole in his chest. Hana dropped the pistol, she was still standing but barely. Hana was holding her side trying to stop the blood that was coming from her own wound. There were more men with guns all pointing at her, Mai's eyes widened as she realized what they were going to do. She turned to Naru a buried her face in his chest as she heard multiple gun shots, that seemed to go on forever._

_Suddenly all was quiet, Mai cried quietly into dream Naru's shirt. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "I'm so sorry Mai, I really am." He whispered into her ear as everything around her faded away_.

* * *

"Naru, where's Mai?" Lin asked looking behind them. Both men stopped, they had been walking for a while in silence forgetting Mai was even behind them and now it started to snow, again.

"We should back track till we find were she stopped following us." Naru said looking up at the sky. "We should hurry before the snow covers up her tracks."

"Right." Lin and Naru hurried following their tracks. They were both carefully watching their foot steps until they saw Mai's foot print in front of them.

"It looks like she went that was." Lin pointed to the ground around to a slop in the path."Didn't the Suzumis tell every one not to wonder off the trails?"

"Mai was in her room, sleeping like a rock." Naru replied looking ahead to were her tracks wonder. "This looks like a path that no one usually uses, leave it to Mai to follow the unbeaten path."

Lin nodded. "Lets go." Was what he was about to say when a shrilling scream cut him off.

"That's Mai!" Naru and Lin said at the same time running off. Following the fading footprints in the snow they found the spot where she had fallen. Naru didn't waste any time getting down the hill and to the edge of the cliff.

"Lin, look she's down there!" he called over his shoulder. Lin rushed over and glanced over the edge to see Mai unconscious on the ground in a deep pile of icy snow below them.

"Do you think you could you lower me down there?" Naru asked turning to the older man with fiery determination in his normally cold blue eyes.

"Are you sure? Its a good twenty feet." Lin didn't want Naru to get hurt when they already had Mai's health or even life in danger.

"Lin, Mai is down there. She could be seriously injured." He replied seriously. Lin nodded, he understood the feelings that Naru had for her. Carefully Lin held on to Naru's wrists lowering him down the ledge as far as he could with out falling himself or out right dropping his boss.

"Kazuya, this is as far as I can go." His voice was strained, do to how hard it was to keep Naru suspended and keep himself from falling.

"Okay then, on three, 1, 2, 3!" Lin let go and Naru dropped swiftly the rest of the way to the ground landing on his feet into a deep pile of snow. He quickly went over to Mai, taking off his black leather gloves that Monk had got him for his last birthday. Checking her vitals, he called back up the Lin. "She's a live, go get help! I'll stay here with her!"

"Don't move, I'll be right back." Lin turned and ran back the way they had come. Naru turned his attention back to Mai. Carefully he checked her over, looking for any swelling or blood, so far she only had a few minor cuts, a swollen wrist and a gash on her temple. He took out his handkerchief and wiped away the blood from her face. 'She probably has a broken wrist and a concussion.'

"Naru?" she whimpered.

Naru looked down at her surprised. "Mai, what happened?" he asked automatically placing a hand on her shoulder. Mai didn't answer. 'She's talking in her sleep?' he thought confused. 'About me?'

"Mai wake up. Come on, Lin went to get help." He told her shaking her shoulder a bit. Naru picked her up and leaned against the side of the small cliff. Sitting down and pulled Mai into his lap. (day ja voo any one?) He let her head rest on his shoulder and supported her shoulders with his arm. Then he took her uninjured hand holding it firmly in his free one.

To get his mind off the poor situation he looked about at their surroundings. It wasn't a very large ledge but there were several sizable sharp rocks that Mai amazingly missed, a holly bush (again it amazed him how lucky was not to land on it considering how large it was), and a dead tree that had very dangerous looking branches that she could have easily collided with.

'Great! Now I'm just torturing myself thinking about all of horrible things that could have gone happened.' He thought dejectedly but luckily she had landed in a snow drift, so he had to admit that was the only good part.

He looked down at Mai with soft eyes, hoping that she would at least open her chocolate brown eyes. He looked out into the distance thinking of the first time she called him Naru and the many times he saw her smile that a smile that made it hard not to smile back at. Mai was some one that was easy to like and get along with, one to admire. He'd never forgive himself if he let her go.

'Come on Lin hurry up!' Looking up at the darkening sky, the temperature was already dropping.

Mai opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Naru. He looked kinda annoyed and worried at the same time. "Naru?"

When he looked down at her, he looked so relieved and he smiled. "Mai, how are you feeling?" he asked. Giving her hand light squeeze.

"Cold," She replied warily, closing her eyes again. "and my head hurts."

Naru shook her shoulder. "Mai just stay a wake till the others come alright." He told her, sounding as calm as ever. Mai opened her eyes again and met his gaze, her sad brown eyes stared back into his determined sapphire ones.

"I had, I had another dream…" looking away as a tear fell down her face. This didn't go unnoticed by Kazuya.

"Don't worry Mai, we will solve this case." He said calmly looking into the distance. 'That is, before this case gets you killed.' He wasn't going to let Mai out of his sight, not until the spirits were exorcised and the case was over. Naru felt Mai slump against him, looking down at his pixie like assistant, shifting her a bit so that her head was once resting on his shoulder.

* * *

Lin lead Monk, Kiki, Kisuke, and Tora to were Mai and Naru were. Kiki was carrying a blanket, and Lin was carrying a rope. Kisuke and Monk were there to help with the lifting and carrying Mai back to the Inn, where every one else was waiting for them and Tora refused to be left behind. 'She was his friend too, and he wanted to help out if they needed them.' Was what he said when they all hurried out the door.

"Its over here!" Lin said leading them off the trail.

"Why was she off the trail? We told you guys yesterday that no one is allowed to go off trails. " Kiki asked glancing at her fiance, who nodded in agreement.

"I guess Mai was asleep when that happen." Answered Monk who was right behind them.

Lin came to the spot where Mai had rolled down the hill and started down it, Tora was right behind him. Monk, Kiki and Kisuke hesitated before following him being careful not to sip on any of the ice. Lin was already tying the rope around a tree and throwing it down. "Naru, I'm coming down!" he called to the dark haired teen below them.

Lin slid down the rope with ease landing right next to Naru and Mai. "She still out?" he asked. Naru nodded, lifting her up gently he gave her to Lin. Lin put Mai over his shoulder carefully, grabbing the rope he tied it around his waist and started to climb his way back up.

"Tora, Monk grab her." He instructed when he got to the edge. Tora wrapped his arms around her waist, Kisuke pulled them both back. Monk helped Lin up, untying the rope they threw it down to Kazuya.

"Oh gosh, she's so cold!" Kiki said worried, placing the blanket around Mai. Her fiance Kisuke, a rather tall guy with dirty blond hair, scooped her up and they both hurried up the hill so that they could get back to the Inn. Tora wanted to follow them but decided to stay and help Kazuya, speaking of said boss man, he was climbing back up with the help of Lin and Monk.

"Are you all right Shibuya-san?" Tora asked. Naru glared at him and hurried past the three men (well Tora isn't really a man but, o well) and up the hill. "Is he always like that?"

Monk patted him on the shoulder. "Don't worry he's always this way when it comes to Mai, right Lin?"

"Will you two hurry up or you'll be left behind." Lin told them bluntly already half way up the hill.

"Hey wait up!" they both called hurrying up after them.

* * *

**Hey i warned you that the nightmare was graphic, though i do hoped you liked it! even though the ending was kinda rushed, its like 12 something pm and I'm really tired (-_-) z.**

**Thank you for reading! Please Review, its great motivation!**


	9. Phone Calls & Doctor Visits

**I know, i know it has taken me a really long time to update, but before you take out your torches and pitch forks blame my school not me! Any way now that I'm a sophomore, they are really packing on the papers so it will take me a while till i get the next chapter up. so please be patient!**

**Disclaimer: i don't own Ghost hunt or it characters! (only the OC ones in this story)**

**Please R&R!**

* * *

When they got back to the Inn, Mai was taken to her room and a doctor from town had been called in to take care of her. Kazuya had ordered every one to go to base, telling Lin that he was in charge until he knew what the doctor had to say about her condition. Lin left Naru leaning against the wall opposite of Mai's room, worried just like every one else was.

At base Ayako, Monk and John shared worried glances as they sat down on the couch. Lin walked in last, he went to his laptop and started typing again like he always did. For a while it was very quiet, and no on said a word. Then Monk decided to break the silent. "Lin what happen? Weren't you and Naru with Mai?"

Lin turned around to face his three co-workers. He had spent the duration of their silence preparing himself for this, so he would know what to tell them concerning Mai and also what work should be done. "From what I know, the spirits here have been looking to Mai as their way of communication. She has been had several very graphic dreams of their pasts, some good and some not." He told them gravely after a pause he continued. "Now earlier I believe that Mai-chan may have been possessed."

Ayako, John and Monk all looked at him surprised. "That's unbelievable! How could that happen when you and Naru were right there!?" Ayako protested.

"Calm down Matsuzaki-san, that was just a theory that I had." He stood up and walked over to one of the seats across from them. "It is possible for a ghost to slip into some one with out that person knowing, then when they feel that their host is unguarded and unaware, it could easily take control." He explained.

Monk nodded in agreement. "I can see that happening to Mai, she was up early this morning and she was probably really tired hiking every where. But Lin you can sense spirit right? Why didn't you notice anything?"

"Like I said before a ghost can slip into somebody and its hard to tell if they are even there unless you can see them like Miss Hara." He replied.

"You mean like during the Orado case, when that ghost possessed Mai while we were all talking. It was only after Yaso noticed and asked her what was wrong and Masako told the spirit to move on." John pointed out.

Lin nodded standing up he went over to the desk and picked up some papers. He turned back to them. "I think its about time we make a few calls, John. I need you to call these people and ask them to come as soon as possible." He handed one of the papers to the young exorcist. "Miss Matsuzaki, make some charms to give to every one and for Mai's room to ward off the spirits."

"You got it mate!" John said heading to the door with Ayako right behind him.

"Alright, I'll get right on it." She said disappearing into the hall.

"Hey Lin what should I do?" Monk asked.

Lin turned to him and thought it over a little, he grabbed the thermometer off the table and tossed it to him. "You can take the temperatures of these six rooms. The kitchen, the corridor where the children have been heard, three of the rooms in that corridor, Mai's room and the office where Mai had fainted." He said. Pausing for a moment and then added "Do you need me to write that down?"

"Heh, heh. Yes that would be nice!" Monk replied rubbing the back of his head.

* * *

The doctor came out of Mai's room and closed the door. He walked over to Kazuya, worried looks were on both of their faces. "Well there's good news and bad news… which one do you want first?" he asked the tall dark haired (coughcough incredibly good looking coughcough) teen leaning against the wall.

Naru stood up straight and gazed at the old man. "I'll take the good news first."

"Well alright, the good news is that she's going to live and she has no life threatening injuries." The doctor informed him. "But I'm sure that you're not going to like the bad news."

Naru didn't respond, he just gave the doctor a look. It a kind of 'your wasting my time get to the point' type of look. It took the old man a minute to under stand and then clearing his throat he continued. "Well the bad news goes along with her injuries. The girl has several cuts, a badly sprained wrist, a concision, and a very strange bruise on her back."

"What do you mean? How is it strange?" Naru asked.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Replied the old doctor.

"Then show me." Naru commanded. The doctor lead him into the room. It wasn't as large as some of the rooms and its walls were painted a light green color that went well with the maple wood furniture. Mai was lying down down in thin twin sized bed, she had a bandage on her head and a few on her arms, her wrist had been wrapped up. The doctor went around the bed, he motioned for Naru to help and they both carefully leaned her forward. The doctor unzipped the back of her shirt about half way down, Naru's dark blue eyes widened in surprise at what he saw.

In the center of Mai's back was a large bruise in the shape of a hand.

* * *

"Hey!"

"John!"

John had just gotten off the phone and was heading back to base. He turned around when he heard some one call his name. When he did he found Tora and Yuki running towards him. "Good day mates, what can I do for you?" He asked kindly with a smile when they reached him.

Huffing, both of the boys looked at each other and turned away trying to hide the blush spreading across their faces. Tora shuffled his feet and Yuki fidgeted with the pockets of his jeans. After a moment John decided that they were probably worried about Mai. "I haven't talked to Shibuya-san yet, but I'm sure Mai is alright." He told them.

They looked up at him with relief in their eyes. Yuki stepped forward a little. "Do you think we could go see her?" he asked

"I think you should give her some time, but I'm sure she'll be happy to see you both after she gets some rest." John replied placing a hand on both of their shoulders. Giving them a reassuring squeeze he turned around and headed back to base. When he got there he found Ayako sitting at the table making charms and Lin at his desk typing what ever he types.

The older Chinese man looked up at him when he entered the room. "John, what did they say?" he asked the blond priest.

* * *

Naru sat in a chair next to Mai's bed. The doctor had left a while ago and he was now waiting for Mai to wake up, he didn't feel right just leaving her by herself. 'Besides' he thought. 'No one likes to wake up alone when they're hurt.'

Using this time he thought about the case, bouncing ideas off his unconscious assistant. "If Mai was Hana in her dreams then she knows what Hana knows. Right now all we know is that Hana's and possibly her lover's spirit, along with some others are hunting this place. We need to get more on the history of this place, because right now Mai is our only source of information."

Naru glanced at Mai. "But she still has that bruise on her back meaning that some one or some thing pushed her off the cliff. Meaning there are more violet spirits here, and its possible that she was possessed as well. This is more complicated than I expected."

Mai moved slightly in her sleep causing Naru to jump*. He leaned over to look closely at her face, he could see her trying to open her eyes. "Mai?"

It took a moment but she slowly open her brown eyes, she was surprised when she saw him right there inches from her face. "Naru!" She gasped trying to sit up but he stopped her.

"Mai, you shouldn't be so stupid. You're injured and the doctor said that you have to rest." He said sitting back down in his chair. He grabbed his black book and opened it to a fresh page, with a pen ready to write he turned back to Mai. "If you are ready could you tell me what happened to you?"

"Ah, yes. I was walking behind you and Lin, and then I wasn't. After that I was walking through the trees, it felt like some thing was guiding me there. I remember slipping on some ice and falling down a slope. I had landed near a cliff or something." She told him. "and then when I was looking at the view I felt some one push me."

"Do you remember who did it?" he asked writing down what she had said.

"No, in fact before I fell I had a really bad feeling that some one was behind me." She said recalling the ominous presence.

Naru could tell that she was tired so he decided that it was almost time to wrap it up. "Is there anything else that you remember? When I was with you earlier you said that you had another dream. What was it about?"

Mai tried to blink back tears, but failed as she remember what happened in her 'dream.' She looked at Naru with pain in her glistening brown eyes. He knew this was hard for her but if they didn't solve this case soon he didn't know what the spirits might do to her next. Then he reached out and grabbed her hand, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze he told he softly. "Mai, nothing is going to hurt you any more. Lin, Monk, John, Ms. Matsuzaki and myself will make sure of it. You dreams usually help us during our investigations and you know that. Do you remember when we found Ms. Hara during the Orado case? That was because of you."

Mai could see in his dark blue eyes that he meant what he said, she took a deep breath and described what had happened in her dream. The little boy named Gin, Hana's lover Byakuya, how that woman had been killed and the man that killed being shot by Byakuya. Then she told him about the horrible man that was Hana's father and how she had killed him and then how all of the other men killed her. By the end she had finished she had more tears in her eyes.

Kazuya, who on the outside was calm, was absolutely astounded by the fact that she had been able to go through all of that. He closed his black book and placed it at the end of the bed, he got up and with his hand wiped away the tears from her face. Bending down he kissed her on the forehead. "You did a great job Mai, and you can rest now." He told her kindly with a small but real smile.

"Thank you Naru." She smiled back at him, it was obvious that she was exhausted. When he went to move away she weakly grabbed his hand. "Please don't leave me here by myself."

"Don't worry I won't." He replied sitting back down in his chair. With the knowledge that Naru was going to be with her, Mai closed her eyes and drifted into sleep.

* * *

***yes, folks even Naru can get a little jumpy and besides it was really quiet and some times any thing can freak ya' out.**

***btw i may use every variation of Naru, Bou-san, and every body else 's name so sorry for any confusion!**

**thank you for reading! and if you keep reading you'll be able to find out who John called and see more darling Mai/Naru moments! ^_^ Please review! thanks!**


	10. Breaking Down Doors

**Hello every one, i sincerely apologize for taking so long to update. i really hope you like this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt and/or it's characters**

**please R&R!**

* * *

Saturday, December 19th

(Really early in the morning)

It had been really late when every one had turned in for the night. Everyone left for their rooms except Naru who fell asleep in the chair next to Mai's bed, holding her hand. Lin had taken the opportunity to take more pictures, it was just to sweet to pass up. On other other hand all of the others were exhausted and John was no exception. He in his room hopelessly trying to fall asleep, he was worried about Mai, but he knew that she was alright with Kazuya. He tossed and turned until he decided that all he probably needed was a glass of water. He pulled away the covers and placed his bare feet on the cold wood floor, creaking a little under his weight he walked to the bathroom. He placed his hand on the door handle and stopped, out side his door he heard giggling and then a knock.

"What was that?" he whispered to him self. He slowly he walked to the door, there was another knock and several hurried foot steps followed by another giggle. John grabbed the door handle and threw open the door.

"Who's there?" he asked looking into the empty hall. He stepped out of his door way and in to the hall almost immediately regretting not having socks on, the floor was icy cold. Looking around once more he turned to go back into his room. 'Did I close this door? I could've swore that…' John thought to him self. He grabbed the door nob to open the door but it was stuck, he pushed on it and twisted the handle but it wouldn't budge.

"What is going on?" he went to Monk's door and tried to open it, but it too wouldn't budge. Suddenly he felt cold breath on his neck, John spun around but no one was there. It was getting gradually colder in the hall.

"In the name of the father, son, and holy spirit." He made the sign of the cross and began to pray. As soon as he started he felt a cold hand wrap around his ankle. At first it tugged at his ankle and then it pulled him to the ground. John struggled, trying to free his ankle but it was no use, what ever spirit this was it wasn't going to let go.

"Monk! Somebody, Help!" he called.

* * *

Monk woke up hearing a lot of noise, which he thought was rather annoying until he heard John calling for help. He immediately jumped from his bed, grabbing his beads he headed to the door, ignoring the fact that he was only wearing blue boxers. He pulled on the door but it wouldn't budge, hearing John scream in pain he backed up ready to kick down the door. Using brute strength and a well placed kick he busted the door down. Quickly scanning the hall he spotted John on the ground, a pained look on his pale face, moving his lips in a silent prayer.

"John!" he yelled to the young priest. John looked up, then with a sudden jolt he was pulled forward Monk knocking him down. "Urgh!" he hit the cold floor with a thud and John gasped in pain when Monk hit his ankle on accident.

The temperature was still dropping, Monk could see his breath. 'This is bad.' He thought as he got to his feet and began to chant. "NAUMAKU SANMANDA BAZARADAN –KAN, NAUMAKU SANMANDA BAZARADAN – KAN!"

Monk heard a loud bang and a shrilling whistle, the chill in the air dissipated and the spirit disappeared. Monk looked over to find Lin hurrying over, he was dress in black pajama bottoms and a white t-shirt, his door was in a similar state as his own. They both went over to John. "Hey man, are you okay?" Monk asked helping him sit up.

"I think so… but that spirit did a number on my ankle." He replied, wincing as he tried to move his right foot. Ayako had now come out of her room, she was wearing read pajama bottoms and a matching red tank-top, and Naru came from Mai's, still wearing his clothes from the previous day.

"What happen here?" Naru asked Monk.

John retold what he had heard and how he was attacked while Ayako examined his ankle. Monk also chimed in a few times as well. "Didn't you hear the noise?" Bou-san asked.

"Yes, I could but when I went to open my door it wouldn't budge." Ayako told him blushing slightly at his choice in nightwear. Noticing this he winked at her and smiled, earning himself hard slap to the back of his head.

"It was the same with Mai's door, it's a wonder how she didn't wake up with all the noise. These ghosts might be trying to target us individually so, from now we have watch our backs." Naru stated he looked over at John's ankle which had swelled considerably. "John, should go to the hospital and get that looked at."

"Right." He nodded, Monk helped him up and they were now heading his room. Ayako excused her self telling them she'd get John some ice.

Lin turned to Naru. "What are you thinking?"

Naru looked at him meeting his gaze. "I'm thinking that this is going to get a little more dangerous than I originally anticipated." He replied

* * *

Mai was lying in her bed looking out the window. Her whole body hurt even though the doctor gave her some pain killers. Naru had told her what happened and that Monk took John to the hospital. Ayako would be back in an hour, she was running an earned for him. She sighed, there were too many things on her mind that she had to sort through.

The first had to do with what had happen at the inn, it was so much but there is a lot that is still missing. 'When I read that letter they sent they mentioned stuff about children running in the halls, but when the Inn was attacked by bandits the children escaped. So who are the spirits that haught the halls and bedrooms?'

But Mai's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in."

Yuki peeked his head in. "Is it alright if we come in, Mai?" he asked.

"Of course!" she said cheerfully waving him in. Yuki enter the room carrying a small table and behind him was Tora, who was carrying a large basket. Yuki set up the table next to Mai's bed and Tora stated getting food from inside the basket. "Guys, what is all this?" she asked curiously.

"Its lunch of course!" replied Tora placing the basket next to her bed.

"WHAT!" she exclaimed. "You mean that its already noon!"

"No, no its eleven o'clock!" Yuki said sliding next to her. "We thought you would enjoy an early lunch princess." He gave her a kiss on the cheek and winked.

Tora came up behind him and shoved him into the wall. "You perverted freak! Can you control your self!? She is injured and you're trying to flirt!" Tora yelled at him.

"Don't be stupid, I was only trying to lift her spirits. Besides yelling like an idiot isn't good either." He countered.

"Oh! So ya' what to make something of it huh? Well fine! Lets take this outside!" he grabbed the collar of Yuki's shirt.

"Alright then. If it's a fight you want, than I'd be obliged to give it to you." Yuki grabbed Tora's shirt.

Mai looked between the two guys and sighed (a total sweat drop moment). 'This is ridiculous,' She thought to herself. Clearing her throat to get their attention, she spoke up. "Do you guys realize that it's like 30 degrees out?"

They both looked at her and abruptly let go of each other. "Yeah, I knew that. I was just gonna see how long Mr. Pansy – Pants could stand the cold." Tora said straightening his black button down.

"Yes, well enough about that! Lets eat this delicious meal that mother prepared, shall we?" Yuki pulled over a couple of chairs and Tora preceded to pull out the plates and food. They gave Mai a tray to use, setting the plates carefully so they didn't spill anything. There was just enough food for everyone and soon they found themselves talking and laughing, telling each other stories from when they were kids.

* * *

_Suddenly Mai found her self in the hall. 'Wait wasn't I just with Tora and Yuki? Why am I here?' She looked around seeing no one but Naru, who was walking toward her. Mai gladly rushed over to him, meeting him half way."Hey Naru!"_

_He smiled at her but she could see in his eyes that something was bothering him. "Whats wrong, Naru?" but when she asked their entire surrounds changed, she looked around again surprised. "what happen to the hall?"_

_The hall had lost it's siding revealing pipes, wires and the frames of the walls. On the floor was piles of tools, nails, wood, pipes and insulation rooms hadn't been worked on yet, so they were merely skeletons. Most parts of the ceiling were uncovered and had many holes where they hadn't filled them in. Holding up the the existing parts of the ceiling was a series of removable support beams."The inn went under a series of renovations a while after the… that incident. This was one of the final projects that the workers were working on." He told her looking off into the distance with sad eyes.._

_Once again the scene shifted, she was standing at the end of the hall next to Naru, hearing children laughing she turned to find five kids playing among the construction materials. They were playing a game of tag or something like it, laughing and running around. Mai was about to step forward and tell them to be careful when she heard loud footsteps. Naru pulled her back some as a large man with a cigarette in his mouth hurried past them._

_"Hey you kids I told you not to come here!" he shouted but at that moment one of the children was pushed into one of the removable beams. Every thing seemed to go into slow motion. The beam knocked into another beam, the children screamed, the man rushed forward, his cigarette fell from his mouth onto the insulation and then the entire of the hallway ceiling collapsed._

_When the dust settled she could see one of the children still breathing, blood was dripping from his mouth, protruding from his stomach was a splintered piece of wood. Gasping he tried to grab it but only cried, weakly calling to his friends tears streaming down his face. None of his friends ever answered him. The exposed wire on the wall was broken and some pipes, which were also damaged began to leak conducting electrical sparks._

_The construction man was still a live but he couldn't move, the man looked to his side a small portion of the insulation material had caught on fire next to the wall. The man called for help, Mai heard several men shouting and then heavy footsteps heading in their direction. It was too late the sparks had ignited the insulation and now the fire was ablaze and the children and the man had no escape._

Mai jolted wake, immediately sitting up in her bed. It was a dark night with the clouds covering the moon, the only sound to be heard was Mai crying.

Crying for the dead children.

* * *

**thank you for reading and waiting! i love reviews and i always feel motivated when people review so the more reviews the better! ^_^**

**btw i kinda wanted John to be attacked cuz you never really see anything happen to him, i think he needs to be involved more stuff any way ;p  
**


	11. Empty Cups and Tea Pots

**hey everyone! i'm really sorry for taking so long, but i made this chapter a little longer than the others to make up for the long wait. please continue to review cuz nothing motivates us writers more than lots of reviews! ^_^ **

**i'd like to thank darkwriter14, Flamegirl5500, crazylittlecheezer, Fox Alder, luna-moongoddess, Yuki Taiki, Emina105, Kaydreams, foxyaoi123 and scoliosisr2d2 for reading and being constant reviewers. please keep it up! **

**now why don't we get started! =D**

**Disclaimer: i don't own Ghost hunt or any of it's characters, just the OCs ;p  
**

* * *

**Sunday, December 20****th**

Mai woke up some time around 8 o'clock the next morning, she didn't want to stay in her room thinking about those kids or Hana. So she got dress in her favorite blue sweatshirt* and jeans. Speeding through the hall and down the stairs. She made it to the dinning room, only stopping once when she glanced out the window at the freshly fallen snow. Surprisingly enough she didn't run into anyone from the team on the way there. 'They're all probably in here eating.' She thought opening the door.

* * *

Naru was sitting at the end of the table closest to the door with Lin. (they really just wanted to be able to get out of there faster and get away from the rest of them : p) of course Monk and Ayako were arguing as usual, but he just had to keep it going… but Naru's rather scurrilous thoughts were interrupted by the slight squeak of the old wood door. Looking up his irresistible, dark blue eyes met the soft, slightly surprised, light brown eyes of his assistant. With no words passed between them, Naru knew that she had something important to tell him.

Lin was watching this with mild amusement in his eyes, wishing that he had his camera. 'If only they would see what's right in front of them…' he thought with a sigh, but Mai's attention was quickly brought to the two familiar faces sitting among the team. "Yasu! Masako! I didn't know you were coming!" she exclaimed happily hurrying over to give them both* hugs.

"Yes, well we got a call from Lin just the other day, practically begging for our help. Right Hara-san?" Yaru told her with a laugh, trying to ignore the deathly glare form Lin.

Masako ignore Yasu's remark, looking at Mai with sincere concern in her blue eyes. "Mai, Lin informed me that you had gotten injured. Are you alright?"

Mai, of course was a little stunned by her kindness, but told her not to worry. "Yeah, I just got a sprained wrist and a concussion. It's nothing to worry about." Pointing to her wrist and then tapping her own head lightly.

Yasu, who was standing next to her, gave her a pat on the back. "That's great! I thought it was something serious from the way Lin-san had told me." He exclaimed missing the pained look that had passed through her eyes, everyone but Masako, Lin and Naru missed it. Monk and Ayako had migrated over making it hard for him to see if she was actually all right. Naru also found that now would be the ideal time to leave but… he decided to stay.

Mai looked around once more and spotted John still sitting at the table. "Hey John!" she said walking over to see him. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine Mai. The doctor said that my ankle was fractured and that I need to using crutches for a while." He motioned to the set of crutches leaning against the table. Naru watched as Mai's eyes widened with a concerned surprise. 'Her caring for others is endless… I wonder what she was going to tell me.' He thought as she continued to discuss John's accident with the others. Monk was doing a play by play while Ayako rolled her eyes at his exaggerations, while Yasu laughed adding witty remarks. Even Masako went over to ask John about the spirit.

* * *

It was after Mai had eaten breakfast, when they decided to head back to base. All of them were chattering about the finer details of the case for Masako and Yasu. It also didn't take long for Masako to pull one of her preplanned episodes when they came to the base hall.

"Oh Naru! The spirits here they… they are so angry and sad. All of these horrible incidents!" Masako exclaimed dramatically latching on to his sleeve and burring her head in his chest. Making Mai's face turn red with anger and embarrassment. Naru of course looked at her and Ayako to get Masako off of him.

"Masako maybe you should sit down." Ayako said kindly as she placed a hand on the younger girl's shoulder. Then she sent Mai a 'say something else' look.

"Oh! How about I make some tea, I'm sure that will make you feel better." Mai smiled at her rival, who had nodded her reply. Mai then ran off to the kitchen.

* * *

At base after Mai returned with the tea Lin whipped out his laptop and started working at his desk, every one else gather around Naru to get their assignments. "Okay, I want Ms. Matsusaki to take Ms. Hara around the inn." He handed Ayako a map of the entire inn. "Mark down all the locations of the spirits that Ms. Hara finds and return to base when you're done. Monk, John, and Yasu I want you go into town a dig up any information you can find about this property. Mai, Lin and myself will stay here a go through everything we have so far." Naru finished taking a sip of tea. "If there are no objections the you all are dismissed."

The guys grabbed their jackets. Masako and Ayako decided that they would start at the front of the building working their way back and then to the other floors. Once everyone was gone Naru had settled down at one of the tables writing a few things down in his black note book. It took Mai a few minutes to gather her thoughts before she went to Naru.

"Hey, Naru?" she walked over and sat in front of him.

"Hm?" her boss replied with out looking up, his pen moved fluidly across the pages of the note book.

"I have to tell you something."

"What?" Kazuya still didn't look up but he stopped writing.

"I had another dream last night. I think there are more than just the spirits from the massacre that happened here."

It was not only the new information that made him look up with her in surprise but the seriousness in her voice. "Alright then… Lin?" Naru closed his note book and set it on the table, drinking some tea, he turned to face Mai. Lin grabbed another chair with his laptop and sat down, poised to type what ever came out of her mouth.

Mai took a breath and started to retell what she had seen in her dream, starting with the children and then the construction worker with the cigarette. When it came to the actual freak accident and how one of the kids was pushed she fumbled over a few of her words and almost started to cry when she spoke about the young boy. "I think this happened during renovations or a few months after the bandits destroyed parts of the inn, I mean we are staying in that hall and it's pretty close to the kitchen too." She concluded.

Naru paused to think over what she just said and drank some tea. "Though I trust your abilities and don't get me wrong, your insight has been very reliable in our other cases, I'd like to see what the others find. We will see if your dream is backed by what Yasu finds or what Ms. Hara sees."

"Okay then, how 'bout I go make some tea?" She asked with a smile pointing to the fairly large, _empty,_ tea pot sitting in front of his _empty_ cup. "It looks like you drank it all."

A very strange, puzzled look crossed her boss's normally stoic face. Both of them looked at each other and then at Lin, he too had an empty cup next to him. "uh…Lin?" Mai asked the older man.

"Hmm?"

"How many cups of tea did you have?"

"Two…"

She turned back to Naru. "I had two as well… Naru?"

He didn't answer. Mai turned to Lin again. "How many do you think he had, Lin? Five? Six?" she asked playfully.

"No, I think it was more than that Taniyama–san." He answered playing along, sometimes he couldn't help himself. ;D

Mai, couldn't believe he was going along with it and she couldn't just pass this up. "Okay, maybe it was more… lets say nine! Or does ten sound about right to you?"

"Yes, I agree, it was–"

"Ugh! Just get some more tea Mai. I swear this is harassment." He muttered the last bit under his breath as he returned to writing in his note book. He watched as Mai made her way to the door with the empty tea pot, unconsciously staring at her butt. Lin, of course didn't miss a thing. Excusing himself, he went to the bathroom where he started laughing hysterically, pulling out his cell phone to call Modoka.

* * *

"Geez! He is so fussy." Mai said to herself walking into the hall. She was passing a few windows when she heard a creek in the floor boards behind. She stopped and turned around finding no one there. 'Okay Mai, there is nothing there. Don't freak out. You're still worked up about that dream, nothing is there.' But despite this false string of reassuring thoughts, Mai was freaking out. Clutching the tea pot tightly she kept walking past the windows and turned to the hall leading to the kitchen, the whole time she could hear another set of foot steps behind her.

When she saw the kitchen door, it was like a light house in her haze of eeriness. Mai swung the door open and practically slammed it shut. Leaning against it surveying her surroundings. Spotting Tora washing dishes she walked over to greet him.

"Hey Mai, you look a little freaked." Tora commented rinsing his hands off. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"No, no, no! I'm just here to make more tea for my boss." She told him, a little embarrassed that at how easily read she was. Reaching to get the tea box out of the cabinet, she was looking for something a little different this time.

"Ya' know, I'm starting to think that your boss just hired you because of your tea." Tora replied, handing her a clean tea pot.

"Thank you! Actually he and Lin were at my school investigating one of the old buildings. I had heard some stories about it and when I went to check it out one morning, I saw one of his cameras. I was over by the camera when Lin came and startled me. i kinda accidentally…" Mai stopped when she saw the way Tora was looking at her. "…What?"

"Sorry, please keep going." He said turning away with a slight blush. "I want to hear the rest of it."

She looked at the orange haired teen puzzled but went on. "Well when Lin came he called out and startled me. I had backed up in to some old shelves and everything happened so fast. All I know is that Lin pushed me out of harm's way and the camera got broken in the process."

Mai placed the tea pot on the stove and went to grab a tray and some clean cups. "Because Lin got hurt in the accident, Na – Kazuya hired me to fill his place while he recovered and I did kinda have to work off the money for the camera too. It wasn't till later that I found out that he had insured the stupid thing. Ugh!"

"Ahahaha! What about the others?" Tora asked laughing a little as he placed the plate he was washing in the drying rack next to the sink.

Before she could answer, the tea pot began to whistle. "Oh! Sorry, I guess I'll have to tell you about that later. I don't want to keep the boss waiting." Mai apologized walked quickly out the door carrying the tray tightly in her hands. 'I know he means well but… something doesn't feel right. He seems different some how.' She thought.

When she reached that base Mai found Monk, Yasu and John lounging on the couch with a really big stack of papers on the coffee table in front of them. "Wow, hey guys I didn't know you were back."

"Hey Mai!" John smiled and waved.

"Ah! Well would ya' look at that she made some tea just for us, guys." Monk had walked over and took a cup.

"Oooo can I have some too please!" Yasu also grabbed a cup. Mai laughed and filled all the cups and passed them out. Naru and Lin also migrated over to the coffee table taking their seats with the others. Then Ayako and Masako came in, seating themselves next to Monk and John, both demanding tea as well after hearing the rave reviews that guys made.

Naru cleared his voice to get everyone's attention. "Now that we are all here, lets get down to business."

* * *

"Ms. Hara, we will start with you, tells what you found." Naru said turning his attention to the two women sitting across from him. Mai couldn't help but look at his face while he talked, only once did his eyes glance her way and then back to her other team mates. She kinda felt special sitting next to him, but instead of letting her self get distracted, Mai, too turned her attention to her friends.

"There many spirits trapped here, and they all have suffered, in varying degrees of course. Such as the couple that Mai saw in her dreams, the bandits that murdered the couple, along with some children in our hall up stairs, and several other presences outside of the house I have yet to identify." Masako reported with her trade mark sleeve over her mouth, obviously hiding a frown of either anger or sorrow, from what Mai could tell. Truthfully, Mai, could say she felt the same way. She was angry with those horrid men who attacked the inn so long ago and she also knew how saddening the incidents with the children and Hana were. But what she was unsure of was the presences outside.

"Do you think you could go around the trails and identify them?" Naru asked.

"Yes, but I would appreciate assistance with the task." She replied. Mai could tell who she really wanted help from and that sure a heck wouldn't happen.

"Fine, Monk and Ms. Matsuzaki will go with you." He told her and then turned Yasu. "What information were you able to find in town?"

"As you can see here, quite a lot. We actually had to buy the library more paper." Every one but Lin and Naru laughed. Yasu adjusted his glasses and began again a little more seriously. "While we were there I was interested in the raid that Mai said happened here, apparently Zazo Suzumi was telling the truth about his great grandfather, Gin. It was about 80 years ago when the massacre happened, about three or four years after Gin was born."

"You mean he witnessed all that blood shed when he was what? A toddler?" Ayako exclaimed.

"Yes, even though the police force back then wasn't that great, they did take witness reports from all the victims and the people in the surrounding area. It was also around that time when the a lot of hikers decided to explore the trails around the mountain. Naturalists had been taking a census of bears from that time frame as well. Apparently it was reported to be a 20 percent increase from three years before and that corresponds with the number of bear attacks recorded by the police." Yasu explained. "Most of them say that the solo hikers would be wondering off the trails and end up being attacked by the bears. One eye witness report said that the she saw the bear knock her sister off the cliff from behind."

"What if one of the hikers possessed Mai and then pushed her off the edge, to try to simulate how they, themselves died." John suggested.

Naru held his hand to his chin, in that thoughtful pose he gets when thinking about all the possibilities. "That a plausible explanation that fits with the series of events. Ms. Hara, do you think those are the presences you felt outside?" Kazuya asked her. Mai glanced at Masako, who stared right back. As if making a silent agreement both girls nodded.

"It's possible, but I would feel more confident with my response if I actually went out there myself." She replied turning back to Naru.

"Alright, if that's all –"

"Wait, Kazuya–san. There's more." Yasu interrupted, he flipped through a few tabs and then handed the papers to Naru. "It was a bout ten years after the massacre when the owner of the inn got around to renovations."

Mai's eyes widened and then quickly looked to Naru. His eyes flashed immediately to hers and then both looked back to Yasu. Though this only lasted a few seconds only Lin and Masako caught the exchange. Yasu, who was unaware of this, continued. "It was near the end when the construction crew ran in to any problems. While they were working on finishing up the kitchen, a group of children had snuck onto the site to play in the unfinished hall, which today is the same hall where we are staying in. One of the men had heard them running around and went to check it out. It was unclear what happen exactly, but all the children plus the construction worker died in a freak accident that caused the entire hall to collapse. The construction company stopped all work on the inn for six months."

When Yasu finished Naru stood and walked to the windows. "If that's what attack John, then we have a lot more work to do. For now you all a dismissed for today, but make sure you are never alone. Always have some on with you at all times, understood?"

The team nodded their heads in agreement, all thinking the same thing.

This case just got a lot harder.

* * *

***Mai's sweatshirt that she wears a lot in the anime**

***even though Masako is Mai's love rival doesn't mean they're not nice to each other.**

**alright, i hope you all enjoyed this chapter and like i said earlier PLEASE review. btw if you didn't read my profile, i'm in school and that means lots of alge 2 homework, chem labs, english papers, and history projects (it's a lot, i know). on top of that i have chores and working out to do, so i hope you all understand if it takes me a while to update and don't worry i will not stop writing this story cuz i'm having so much fun writing it, thank you so much for reading! **

**p.s. - i also want to thank mytruthaboutlife, her fanfic is really awesome ya'll really need to read it if you aren't all ready and more thanks to the anonymous reviewers and to any other person i left out!  
**


	12. Couples Therapy Tied to a Tree

**Hey every one! i do apologize for the really long wait i put some of you through, but i do hope you'll enjoy this chapter. **

**Disclaimer: i don't own Ghost Hunt or it's characters, just the OCs that i made up ^_^**

**R&R  
**

* * *

Monday, December 21

Some time around nine o'clock the next day Monk, Ayako, Mai, and Masako accompanied by Tora and Yuki headed out to scout the trains and find the specific location of the ghostly hikers. All* were dressed in coats, scarfs, gloves, and boots with Yuki carrying a backpack that his mother had given them full of hot tea canister, a first aid kit and granola bars. Naru, Lin, and John stayed at base with Yasu as they went further into the history of the Suzumi family.

Mai and Masako were chatting as they followed Tora and Yuki on the trails, discussing Masako's travels around the world and what the perfect date with Naru might be like. Mean while Monk and Ayako were bickering behind them. It didn't take long until everyone started to get annoyed with the older couples petty arguments, especially Mai who had been listening to them since the train ride there. Masako figured Mai was going to make out bust in about: 5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

As if on cue Mai whipped around and yelled. "Could you two STOP IT! Its _**obvious**_ that you guys like each other! So why do always fight?! The constant bickering isn't just annoy8ing me its driving everyone insane!!! If you can't settle this by yourselves we'll tired you to a freaking tree!! Ya' got that?!"

"Ha! And how would you do that?" Ayako replied arrogantly, obviously she didn't get how serious Mai was.

"Tora, the rope please." Mai held out her hand to him as he held up the rope and tossed it too her. "Thank you."

Both Monk and Ayako flinched as their young, brown haired team mate turn her slightly evil, perfect impression of Naru's angry, gleaming eye look. "Where did he…?" Monk mumbled backing up a few steps.

"When…? How…?" Ayako also mumbled afraid and astounded at the convenient rope* that came out of nowhere.

"Okay guy, Tackle them!" Mai order Tora and Yuki.

* * *

Back at base Naru was about to drink some tea when he sneezed, spilling some tea on his black shirt. "Hey Kazuya-san, are you getting sick or something?" Yasu asked looking up from his paper work.

"No it was probably nothing." He replied placing his cup on the table.

"Hmm.. maybe you're right." Yasu looked back to his papers. "but if you do get sick I don't want to catch it."

Naru rolled his eyes as John piped in too. "Ya' know it reminds me of an old saying I heard that said when ever you sneeze it means someone's talking about you."

Yasu looked up again from his papers and a sly smile crossed his face. "I heard that too, maybe Mai was talking about you boss. She has the prettiest eyes don't you think? And she wears the cutest skirts! I remember that one time she was wearing one and there was this big gust of wind, her– "

"Yasu get back to work." He ordered and then add. "I'm going to change my shirt."

After he had left the room Yasu and John burst out laughing, even Lin started to chuckle. "Ah ha ha ha did – you – see – ha ha ha – his face! Ha ha ha ha!" Yasu exclaimed between gasps of breath and fits of laughter.

* * *

Back in his room he stripped off his shirt and threw it into a clothes basket. He then open one of the dresser drawers shifting through shirts to find the right one and at the same time keep the image of Mai's panties out of his head. 'Damn him! I can't believe I fell for that!' These thoughts, though, were interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. He pulled it from his pocket. "Hello?" he answered.

"Uh is Mr. Kazuya Shibuya present?" the man on the other side of the line asked.

"Speaking, may I asked in what regard is this about?" he asked picking up the gray rainy day button down shirt that Mai had gotten for him.

"Yes, this is about the break in at Taniyama residence. I was the responding officer, you told me to call you if we found anything." The officer stated.

Naru stood up straight, still holding the shirt in his hand. "And did you find anything?"

"My partner and I went back to the scene yesterday to see if the assailants left anything behind, but when we got there all the items you told us that were missed had all been stacked in front of the door. I had never seen any thing like it in my life." Answered the police man. "When we asked the neighbors if they saw any thing, they said the same thing. That all of those things weren't there earlier that morning. One of the kids that lived a few doors down said he went in for lunch and when he came out every thing was just out there."

"Are you absolutely sure that's what happened?" Naru asked urgently. If that was true then Mai was and had been in serious trouble from the start. Was it something about her that attracted spirits or was this just a coincidence? What ever it is Mai is going to have to stay at his place for her own protection.

* * *

Ayako and Monk stood hopelessly tied to a tree facing opposite directions. "How did this happen?" Ayako asked Monk exasperated.

"Honestly, I really didn't think Mai was capable of such force." Monk replied. "But maybe she had a point. Do we ever have a solid reason for the fights we get into?"

"No, I suppose we don't. I think we should both just get over ourselves and apologize to each other. I'll go first. Monk, I apologize for smacking you up side the head on numerous occasions…"

"Yeah those really hurt."

"Don't interrupt! And I'm also sorry for insulting you as well, I guess I have a small tendency to over react." She finished.

"Yes, you do over react, but I want you to know that I'm only joking and if you don't like my joking then I will… try to keep my mouth shut." Monk looked off to where the others had gone off to, it had been about five or ten minutes since they left. "Hey do you have any idea how we're going to get out of this? I don't want to be to far behind them and that Yuki kid has the food."

"Of course I do, so just chill for a few minutes." Ayako replied, pulling a little at the ropes. "This would be a lot easier if she hadn't tied the damn ropes so tight!"

He felt the rope tighten a little on his side. "What exactly are you doing?" he asked curiously, but she didn't answer. "Ayako?"

Suddenly the ropes fell to the ground with a thud. She came around the tree and smiled at the astounded Monk. "There, you happy now, I got us free." She smirked again and started to walk away.

"Hey wait! How did you do that?" Monk exclaimed as he trotted to her side.

"That is something you, Takigawa, shall never know." Was her only reply.

* * *

Mai, Masako and the boys had be chatting for quite while, Yuki entertained them with anecdotes while Tora would tell them about the different plant or animal track that they found in the snow. A few times they stopped to eat a few granola bar and sip some water and tea. Mai decided to take the opportunity to pull Masako a side while the two brothers were arguing over the type of winter flower they just found, it was something like narcissus or a cymbi - something. "Um… Masako, I…" she hesitated trying to find the right words.

"Yes, what is it?" Masako asked curiously, the teen idol knew this had to be important, both Mai's expression and her hesitation were obvious signs.

"I was wondering if you sense anything about Tora." Mai glanced at him briefly and then back to Masako. Looking over to the orange haired teen she didn't feel anything out right but she closed her eyes. As she focused on his person a shape appeared. It wasn't really clear but rather fuzzy with no definition, though honing in on it more, Masako could tell that this particular presence was not of the good kind. Something or someone had taken hold of Tora Suzumi.

"Masako?" Mai placed a hand on her shoulder, a look of concern crossed her features. The Medium opened her eyes, meeting the gaze of her friend's clear brown eyes. "I don't want you to startle either of the boys so compose yourself." She ordered.

Mai took a few deep breaths and let them go, clearing her face. She put up a mask of pleasantness and turned back to her team mate. "Alright, do I look like I'm worried now?" Mai asked, smiling a bit.

"It'll have to do, any way lets get back to the boy." Again both girls glanced at Tora. "I do feel something there but it isn't clear, which makes me feel a little uneasy."

"Yeah, me too." Mai agreed. Ahead of them Tora stopped Yuki and pointed at the ground, then they bother bent down to inspect it. Mai was about to go see what it was but the medium stopped her.

"Mai, what do you mean, did you sense something?" she asked, the look in her eyes was sharp.

"Well, it was the other day when I went to the kitchen to get tea and he was there…" Mai answered unsure of the other girls intentions. "We talked a little while I was waiting for the tea, but the whole time I felt as if something about him was off."

Masako was about to reply when Yuki called them both over. "Hey look at this! Tora found a stone with some strange writing on it."

"What do you mean by strange?" Both girls asked simultaneously.

Tora had brushed away some more snow to reveal the rest of the rock. It was rough looking but smooth on the top. The writing that was carved into it was edgy and parts of it were worn to a point were it was almost impossible to read. Mai bent down and ran her fingers around the edges. "Guys this isn't a rock, its part of a grave stone." Mai glanced towards Masako who had covered her mouth, the surprise was evident in her features. Both, Tora and Yuki had taken a step back. 'Naru's going to want to know more about this.' She thought standing up. 'Besides if this is part of a grave stone there should be more, if we find where it originated than it likely going to be near a graveyard and Masako would be able to sense something… right?'

"Masako do you sense anything?" she looked at the medium curiously, but she didn't answer instead Masako just stood there unmoving, eyes wide. Mai walked up to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Hello?"

"Mai?" Masako asked blinking a few times looking a little sick. "I – I think we should go now."

Looking back at the grave stone, Mai motioned for the guys to follow as they turned back. 'Hopefully we'll run into Monk and Ayako, that is… if they aren't still stuck to that tree.'

* * *

Yasu had finally finished looking through all papers, he yawned as he stretched his arms. He quickly glanced at his watch. "Well, would you look at the time! Hey Kazuya-san we've been working for about three hours, do you mind if I take a break?"

Naru glanced at him and nodded. "Take John with you."

John gathered his crutches and both men left the room in search of some food. Naru stood up and walked to the window, placing his hand on his chin thoughtfully. "Lin how long have the others been gone?"

The older man stopped typing and turned to boss. "Almost four hours, are you concerned about her?"

Naru turned his now icy gaze on his assistant. "Don't you dare."

"Naru, I have no idea what your talking about." He replied knowing all to well that he was really digging a hole.

"I know very well what I'm referring to and I wasn't worrying about anyone, particularly Mai." He shot back, knowing very well that he was actually worried about Mai.

"I didn't say anything about Mai, in fact I was referring to Ms. Hara, who's father entrusted us with her safety. Does this mean you have feelings for Mai?" Lin stated matter of fact-ly. He already knew what Naru's feeling were but having him say it out loud while he had a tape recorder hidden under his desk, it would just be too good to pass up if this actually worked.

Naru glared at Lin and clenched his fists. "Whether or not I have feelings for Mai have nothing to do with this, all of them are taking longer than it should. I'm certain that they're all just fooling around." He returned to the window again refusing to even glance at the Chinese man sitting behind him.

'Hmm well I hope they show up soon, Kazuya is a pain when he's in a bad mood.' Lin thought as he pulled up the manuscript for his book, reading through the last page he picked up typing where he left off. Luckily Lin didn't have to put up with Naru for long, Yasu came back and announced that every one's returned safely and that they were in the dinning room getting refreshments. At that time Lin excused himself and left Naru alone at base, hoping that his plan would go over well.

* * *

At the table Mai stretched and stood from her chair. "I'm going to head back to base and fill Naru in. 'Kay guys?" she told the group. Ayako and Bou-san just nodded exhausted from running around trying to find their juniors, Yuki and Tora had already left for their respective rooms, and Masako sat quietly sipping herbal tea to ease her nerves.

Mai tiredly walked through the halls passing by Kisuke and Kiki discussing what should be on the menu at dinner with Mrs. Suzumi. When she got to base she quietly opened the door and glanced in side. Naru was sitting on the couch most likely looking at some notes, he looked up as she entered the room. "What took you guys so long getting back?" here was a definite sharpness in his voice.

'Uh yeah, nice to see you too.' She thought sarcastically. "Well we actually didn't mean to take that long, in fact we started to head in early but we got lost." She explained a little sheepishly.

"So you were out there with five other people, two of which were supposed to be guides and you got lost? They must be rather incompetent fools." The sarcasm that layered his voice was just as icy and cold as his eyes.

"Hey, I don't know why you're in such a rotten mood but I don't appreciate insulting my friends." She yelled at him, meeting his glare with her own. "The only reason I came here was to see you and talk to you, Naru!"

For only a moment he looked surprised at what she had said, but his mask was up one again. Sighing he closed his note book. "Then come sit down and tell what you have to say."

Mai decided to sit next to him on the couch. She then began to describe the grave stone they had come across and and explain Masako confirming her suspicion about Tora being possessed, along with there being about fifteen detectable spirits wondering around the trails near cliffs and caves. "So how do you think we should handle the exorcisms?"she asked.

"I think we should deal with driving the spirit out of that boy and make charms for all of the family to hold on to." Then after a pause he added. "and charms for the team to have as well, speaking of which. I already had Lin make yours."

He reached into his pocket and handed it to her. It was a small, smooth, oval piece of wood that had grooves around the edges. In the center it had the charm written in neat black print. The top was a small whole which had a leather string went through, there were two beads on either side of the whole to keep the charm center. "A *necklace?" she asked inspecting in her hand.

He smirked a little. "We didn't want you to lose it."

"Oh geez thanks a lot. I'm glad to know that guys trust me so much." Mai deadpanned. "Here. Why don't you help me put this on?"

He took the necklace back, raising it over her head and around her neck. Gently he moved her hair out of the way, brushing his hand across the back of her neck causing her to blush. Swiftly he tied the leather into a tight knot. "There, all done." He whispered into her ear, she could feel his breath on her neck.

"Th-thanks." Mai said as she turned back to him, feeling her heart beat faster just looking at him. "Would you like me to get you some tea? We were just drinking some down sta –!"

Naru had just leaned down and softly kissed her on the lips cutting her off. Mai wasn't exactly sure what she should do, but she closed her eyes and kissed him back and that was when world seemed to stop. But the moment was fleeting and the world picked back up again as they broke away. Naru then simply replied. "No thanks, I prefer your tea more than theirs any day."

She watched him a little dazed as he got to his feet and gracefully made his way to the door. He had just put his hand on the door when he turned around with a slight smile and added. "And Mai, rest up. We're closing this case tomorrow."

* * *

***Masako borrowed one of Mai's outfits and a pair of boots**

***the rope was really there the whole time, but they didn't seem to notice it when they 1st headed out ;p**

***i wasn't really sure how to describe the necklace, so i hope ya'll kinda get what i mean Xi  
**

**Yes, i have been waiting a long time to write that last part but i'm glad i wrote it. And though it may seem sad, i am going to be ending this story soon, i feel it coming to an end so there is probably one or two more chapters left. i wish you guys happy holidays! thank you for reading and appreciate the reviews!  
**


	13. A Cold Winter Morning

**Hey! Thanks for being patient! i tried really hard to publish this on the exact date below. (btw i so didn't plan this which makes it doubly amazing!)**

**Disclaimer: i don't own Ghost Hunt or it's character, just the OCs **

**Please R&R! **

* * *

12:00am Tuesday, December 22

Mai stood outside the front door of the inn, watching as the Suzumi family drive away. She turned to Tora and placed her gloved hand on his shoulder. "Come on, let's go back." She told him.

At first he looked reluctant but then he sighed. "Yeah." He mumbled, frowning as he went through the door. Mai looked back into the night as the snow began to fall again. 'Naru I hope you know what you're doing.' She thought to her self as she turned back to the open door.

**~ Flash Back ~**

"_What!? Mr. Suzumi exclaimed. "We have to leave with out Tora?" _

"_Yes, I'm afraid so Zazo-san." Mai told him apologetically. She glanced at the other family members who were also quick shocked. Kisuke had put his arm around Kiki and both Tora and Yuki looked confused. _

"_But why?" both boys asked at once._

_Mai really wished Naru hadn't picked her to do this, particularly so early in the morning. "It's for your safety. We're going to be doing exorcisms all over the property and it's likely going to take us all day."_

"_Is it really that bad?" Mrs. Suzumi asked worried, looking Mai strait in the eye. _

'_Naru!! I'm so greeting you back for this!!!' She screamed inside her head but turned to the old gently explain "No, but usually when exorcisms are preformed the spirits will become unpredictable and might even try to attack. So we ask to please leave for your own safety." _

_Yuki stepped in front of his brother. "Then Mai, why is Tora the only one staying?" he asked, his light blue eyes almost sparkled with concern. _

"_I…I am truly sorry Yuki, but I can't tell you." She apologized, then reaching into her pocket she took out the letter that Lin had written for them, on Naru's orders of course. She handed it to him before anyone started to protest. "Read this after you go, it'll explain every thing and Tora is in no danger. We will protect him from any harm."_

**~ End Flash Back ~**

After that the family packed a few suitcases and left. Mai looked at the teen in front of her and sighed. She wished she could have just told the Suzumis that there son was possessed but that would, 1) make them very upset and 2) let the spirit inside him know that they knew about it… at least that's what Naru told her. Mai pulled out the charm away from her jacket and looked it over again. The beads were made of a dark red wood that contrasted with the almost white wood that had the charm on it. Although the necklace it self was new, the leather wasn't, it was soft instead of stiff like a well wore pair of boots.

"Hey, where did you get that thing?" Tora asked, stopping so abruptly that she almost walked smack dab into him.

"Uh, what do you mean?" she asked stalling a bit. She didn't really want to tell him that Naru gave it to her. If she did then she might slip that he kissed her!

"I haven't seen you wear it before. Wait…" He leaned closer to her face. "Are you blushing?"

'Oh Gods!' she thought. "Ah! No, no I'm not!" she replied trying to sound stern, but ended up sounding rather flustered instead. Mai tucked the charm back into her shirt and tried to glance over Tora to find an escape form this embarrassing conversation.

"You really suck at lying, ya' know that?" He told her, the harshness in his voice surprised her. "Ya' know what I think? I think that that boss of yours gave it to you. Am I right?"

"What's it to you if he did give it to me?" She shot back defensively. 'Why is he getting mad? Is this the spirit?' she thought, watching him cautiously as he started to pace in front of her. "Are you jealous?"

That's with he turned on her and grabbed her shoulders. "See! I knew it! You and him are having an affair!" He yelled, pushing her into the wall. "I can't believe you're doing this to me again!"

Mai's eyes widened in shock. "W-what do you mean again?" she asked. 'This has to be the spirit, there is no way I have ever cheated on him. And now, we – no I, have made it angry.' She thought keeping her eyes on Tora, hoping or praying rather that there was a camera near by catching all of this.

* * *

Naru was leaning on a table facing the windows holding his notes of how he had planned out the order and placement of the exorcism. Takigawa and John were going to cover the inside of the house while Ms. Matsuzaki, accompanied with Ms. Hara, went out side. Lin had also set up a camera up at the location of the miko's choosing. All he was waiting for now was Mai with that boy; John was going to get rid of the spirit possessing him. He sighed. 'Mai… her lips were so soft…' He thought staring out the window into the snowy night*. Then he realized what he had just thought he mentally slapped himself. 'Stop it! Focus on the case.' But that still couldn't stop his mind from wandering and he some how began to think about how she smelled like gardenias. 'I've always liked those flowers…' he thought absently.

Lin looked over at his young boss and smirked. 'I can't wait till Mai shows up. If I'm right in thinking that he's thinking about her then it'll be priceless to see the look on his face when she did walk threw that door.' He thought turning to look at the others who had just filed in. Ayako was already prepared and Masako had borrowed another one of Mai's outfits to wear outside, to be honest it probably looked better on Mai. 'Where is Mai? She should be here by now, all she was doing was seeing the family off.' Lin thought turning to the monitors.

"Damn! Naru get over here!" he called, alerting the raven-haired teen.

"What?" Naru asked and then swore at what he saw. Mai was leaning against the wall with that stupid kid yelling at her. He was about to go give that kid a piece of his mind but Lin held him back.

"Don't be rash. Look, she's trying to tell us something." He told him pointing to her hands*. "It looks like she wants us to wait… and listen?"

"What's going on?" Ayako asked as she and Masako come over and looked over their shoulders. "Oh my god."

"Lin turn it up." Naru ordered ignoring the older woman. At that moment John and Bou-san came through the door. Ayako quickly turned and motioned them to come over and be quiet. Lin turned up volume.

**~ Mai on Video ~**

"You know, don't lie. You have been doing this to me, Hana! I let it go the first time and then you just kept going. You wondered why to broke it off, well that was why!" He shouted, his eyes blazing with anger.

Mai stared at him shocked. 'That means he's Byakuya and he thinks I'm Hana!' she had to do something to fix this, if Bou-san or Lin came they would destroy him. Hope fully one of them could read sign. "Byakuya…" she said testing the waters.

"Don't you dare speak his name." He spat back. 'Okay, so he's not Byakuya…' Mai took a step forward. He eyed her suspiciously but held his ground.

"I'm sorry." She said gently putting her hand on his shoulder. "But Hana was in love with him."

"No, Hana you said it was us. Hiroshi* and Hana, no one else." She could hear sadness in Hiroshi's voice and then he turned away from her. "But you left and you didn't even say good-bye."

Mai looked to the camera, she knew they were watching by now. "Hiroshi, I know that this is going to be hard for you but, I'm not Hana." She met his eyes as he turned to look at her. "Look at me, Hiroshi. Hana had green eyes, she had beautiful long hair, do I really look like her?" she asked.

Hiroshi bent closer to look at her face, then stepped back. His eyes narrowed slightly. "Then who are you and where is Hana?" he demanded.

"My name in Mai Taniyama." She replied. "And Hana is dead, she died many years ago."

"No, she couldn't have! We grew up together, we taught each other how to survive!" He protested clearly upset.

"Hiroshi, do you know that you are no longer living? That you died?" she asked looked into Tora's saddened black eyes. 'If this man wasn't here than Tora would be with his family.' Mai thought.

He sighed. "I remember coming in the Inn, I had heard that Hana was staying here with that man." He spoke the last words with resentment. "I was talking with one of the staff… and then I heard shouts…there were shots too but I never saw who shot them. I wanted to find Hana."

Mai placed both hands on his shoulders. "Hiroshi, that day you came in she died that day too. She is still attached to this world with her lover, as many spirits are but you don't have to be." She told him soothingly. "You can pass on to a better place and be happy."

"But Hana – " He tried to oppose but she cut him off.

"She would want you to be happy and when she to passes on you can be there to greet her and show her around." The pixie like girl smiled. "Wouldn't she like that?"

"Yes." he accepted, a small smile on his face but in his eyes she could tell he had one request. "Will you make sure that Hana will be okay?"

"I promise." She said firmly. Suddenly a light began to glow around him as he closed his eyes. Mai caught Tora's body as he slumped forward a warm light appeared above them, shinning a brilliant gold. A young tall man appeared before her.

"Thank you Mai Taniyama." Bowed slightly, those were his last words before he vanished.

**~ Back at Base ~**

All the members of SPR stared at the screen, different levels of awe on their faces. "That was beautiful." John said breaking the silence.

Masako nodded, she didn't really think that Mai could convince a spirit to pass on and thought that Monk or Lin would have to go to her rival's rescue. Lin leaned back in his chair slightly. 'Her abilities have yet to stop growing…' he thought glancing at Naru who just stared a Mai, who was still holding the incapacitated Tora in her arms. The sight though was somewhat amusing because the boy was much larger then the young brunette.

"Takigawa, go see if she's alright and help her carry Tora back." Naru ordered turning away from the screen and walked back to the window. Monk nodded and headed out the door.

* * *

Mai eased to the floor, trying to make it so that she didn't drop Tora. 'Dang, he is a lot heavier than he looks!' she thought. She sat him up against the wall and then took her place next to him. For a few moments it was all quiet, nothing made a sound, a feeling of unease started to fill the air. Mai grabbed Tora's arm and shook him a little. "Tora, come on now wake up." She told him nervously but he was out like a light.

Suddenly she heard footsteps coming down the hall. Mai stood up and smiled. "Bou-san!" She exclaimed dashing to him and giving him a hug.

"Hey kiddo! Nice job, you cleansed a spirit all by yourself." He praised, patting her on the head.

"Yup, I guess I did." Mai grinned then she glanced at Tora. "Bou-san could you help me carry him back to base." She asked.

"Sure this shouldn't be to hard." Monk said arrogantly. He leaned down and wrapped his arm around the boy's waist and lifted his arm over his own head. "See a piece of cake!"

"Yeah, sure I'll just get his other side, just to be safe." Mai replied taking Tora's other side. Together they slowly walked back to base chatting about various things, like Monk's love life for instance.

"So… did it work?" she asked some what awkwardly. They both stopped walking for a moment.

…

"What do you mean?" he asked, they began to walk again.

"Don't play dumb Monk! You know exactly what I mean." She scolded.

"We straightened things out and I guess…" He trailed off adjusting Tora a little bit.

"You guess what?" Mai asked curiously, glancing at him.

"That Ayako and my self are… are…" He couldn't really make himself say it, but he had to. "Are a couple." He finished.

Mai dropped her side of Tora and exclaimed. "Bou-san that's great!"

"Mai, Tora he's dragging on the floor!" Monk said exasperated.

"Opps!" she said getting back to her position.

Monk looked over at his little sister-figure, a small smile on his lips, he always appreciated her kindness towards others. 'Which all in all helped her calm and sooth the spirit of Hiroshi.' He thought humbly and then something caught his eye. "Hey Mai, where did you get that charm?" he asked curiously.

Mai blushed a light shade of pink. "Ah – ah…" she stuttered.

Monk stopped walking and peered at it closely. "Oh, I see now! It's a warding charm, the lighting sucks by the way, do you think we should mention that to sleeping beauty here?" He asked playfully.

"Yeah, sure we should." Mai replied sheepishly. 'Whew! That was close.' She thought to herself.

"So who gave it to you?" Monk, of course already knew but this, this was pay back for tying him to a tree.

'Or not!' Mai figured she'd better just tell him to get it over with. "LinandNaru." She replied quickly.

"I'm sorry, my hearing is a little bad these days." He drawled. "Lin and… who?"

"Naru." She mumbled clenching her teeth.

"Hmm? Did you say Naru? I couldn't tell." He continued in mock dullness trying to over take the grin threatening to take over his face.

"Yes! It was Naru! Okay, geez!" Mai almost yelled, fed up.

"Monk almost laughed. "I guess that Ayako and I aren't the only ones who are a couple now!" he exclaimed. Laughing when Mai's face turned several shades of red.

* * *

When they returned to base every one was ready. Mai and Monk laid Tora out on the couch. Yasu had finally shown up (he had been asleep up to this point, it'd probably be around 1:30 – 2 am-ish), and Naru had called everyone to gather around. "Alright, every one knows what they are supposed to do?" he asked looking every one in the eyes, Mai blushed furiously, drawing curious glances from her co workers, a devilish glare from… (do I even have to say it) Masako, and a knowing look from Monk.

John decided to do his part and speak up to spare Mai the embarrassment. "Yes, but why must Monk and I wait for Ayako?"

"Ms. Matsuzaki's job is to get rid of the spirits and if there is any left over that are unwilling to be cleansed then you and Takigawa are to find and exorcise them." Naru answered simply. "Any other questions?"

"Naru, why must I go with Ms. Matsuzaki? Couldn't Mai go with her?" Masako demanded.

Mai glared at her and Naru almost rolled his eyes. "Mai is to stay here because she has to watch him." Naru pointed to the couch. "And she can't see spirits like you can, Ms. Hara."

"Well, I suppose you're right." She replied.

"Of course he is Hara-san, he's the boss man after all." Yaso piped up, smiling as usual. "Speaking of… What am I going to be doing?"

"Assisting John," Naru stated. "Either it be holding his crutches or if some thing worse happens."

"Sorry to be such a hindrance, Kazuya-san." John apologized.

"John, you are not a problem, this is just a precaution." Naru said waving away the apology. "We are wasting time. Go get into your positions." He ordered. Ayako and Masako left, followed by Monk, John and Yaso. Leaving Mai, Lin and Naru alone at base. It wasn't long before an awkward silence started to fill the air. Naru and Lin just stood staring at the monitors, seemingly oblivious to how awkward it was. 'A freaking crumb could fall on the floor it so quiet.' She thought sitting on the edge of the couch.

Then, being unable to stand the silence, she hopped up. "I'm going to go make some tea." She declared. She walked swiftly to the door but someone grabbed her wrist. Turning around, it was of course, Naru. "What?" she inquired.

"You have to stay here until the exorcisms are over." He said, there was uncertainty in his eyes but Mai couldn't tell from what, though.

"Alright then." She replied, taking him by surprised. She knew he expected her to argue or resist in some way. Mai turned back to the couch but he was still holding her wrist.

"I wasn't finished, Mai. You have to stay here, unless you have someone go with you." He told her and then added in an after thought. "And since Lin is busy, I'll be the one to go with you."

This completely shocked her. "Ah sure then let's go make tea?" Mai said not really sure. Naru nodded and slid his grip down to her hand, leading her out of the room. Once the door closed Lin turned around and almost chuckled. 'Modoka really did miss out on this one.' He thought flipping out his cell, hitting her number on speed dial.

* * *

The walk to the kitchen was quiet, Naru was absolutely sure how he was supposed to approach the subject of her living at his place. 'Her apartment might, after all be their next case.' He thought to him self glancing at his assistant walking next to him. A small blush ran across her face, making him wonder if she was sick… but then he noticed he was still holding her hand. Posing another question, should he or shouldn't he let go of it? But since they had just reached to kitchen, he had to.

Mai moved swiftly between cabinets getting what she needed. "Mai?" he asked, he was leaning on the counter a few feet from her.

She had just set the pot on the burner. "Yeah Naru?"

"I got a call from a police officer about your apartment." He stated, watching for her reaction. At first she thought for a bit before the realization of what he had said hit her.

"Seriously! What did he say?" Mai asked in earnest, taking a few steps closer to him.

"He had said that all of the items you listed had been returned to you apartment. Your neighbors hadn't seen nor heard anything." He said watching emotions of surprise, worry and seriousness portray themselves on her features. "It is apparent that this unlike other break ins that occur around your area, or anyone else's for that matter, so the officer and his partner are going to dust for finger prints."

"No way! They're actually going to start an investigation?!" she exclaimed. "What am I supposed to do?" Naru watched her as she paced around the floor muttering nonsense to her self. This went on for about five minutes until she abruptly turned to him. "Naru I can't stay at my house! What if who ever did this comes back? They might be after me!"

(I suppose this was a little to convenient for Naru, but what can I say?) Naru stepped to his frantic assistant and placed his hands on her shoulders to keep her in place. Mai at the moment didn't really want to look into his gorgeous face with all the problems that were piling up. "Mai, look at me." He said placing his hands on either side of her face, forcing her to look into his eyes. "I want you to come stay at my place for a while."

Mai paused, she didn't know what to say. He, Naru the narcissistic egomaniac who never said please or thank you when she brought him tea, was asking her to live with him because… because …. "Why?" she asked him.

"Your apartment isn't safe and you'd be a useless assistant if you ended up hurt or worse." He told her.

Mai pulled his hands from her face and threw her arms around him. Although he was surprised Naru returned the hug, pulling her closer (if that were possible). "I'm to assume that you're staying with me?" He asked softly kissing the top of her head, inhaling the smell of her floral shampoo.

"Yes." Mai replied grateful that he couldn't she her face as a few tears of joy slipped down her cheek.

* * *

***y**es I do realize that it's technically 'morning' if its midnight, but since it's really really dark, I'm just going to say night

*****she's using **sign language **(as cheesy as it may seem) that she picked up during a charity thing her school did. They were each assigned a handy capped kid to live with for a week to understand how hard some of their lives could be and how the families worked around them and lead a daily/normal life. Mai was buddies with a girl who was in a car accident when she was young and couldn't hear or walk after that.

****** this is just a little background story, it's not in the manga or anime. Also I've never heard of any one actually doing this even though I think it would be beneficial to today's youth.

***Hirosh**i - i kinda just made him up in a spur of the moment type thing. btw his name means generous

**Hey! thanks for reading! i worked really hard on this chapter so i hope it's good! and on the way to find Hiroshi's name i found out what Naru's name means: Kazuya = peace. (i sure got a laugh out of that one! XD) though it does make sense in several ways i suppose. any who! i'm not sure if i'll get another chapter in soon but i'll try. please review and for the season to be jolly with no flames****! ^_^ Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year! **

**~Kikan  
**


	14. Closing the Case

**Hey everyone! thank you for waiting so patiently, you all are awesome! this chapter took me a while to finish so i really hope you like it! ^_^**

**Disclaimer: i don't own Ghost Hunt or any of it's characters, just the my OCs**

**Please R&R!!**

* * *

Wednesday, December 23

Naru stared at the back of his assistant's head as they walked back to base through one of the eastern corridors, wondering how exactly she got him to carry the tea tray. Though it wasn't really any thing to complain about, Mai, the girl that some how wove her way passed his defenses, was happy. He didn't need to see her face to know that, the almost skip in her step and way her arms move carelessly at her sides told it all. If she was happy then he was content.

Naru glanced out the passing windows at the sun that had risen only a short hour ago. The clouds that covered the sky had passed allowing the rays of sunlight to glisten on the snow that had fallen the night before. Naru glanced back at Mai to find that she had suddenly stopped and was facing one of the windows, immersed in light. At that moment she looked very much like an angel. Naru blinked and stepped forward. "Mai?"

Mai turned to face him. "Naru it's over," she told him with a smile on her face and relief in her eyes. "Everything is good now."

At that moment two things happened almost simultaneously. The air felt lighter as if the tension that had been built up since the case began had be lifted and Mai collapsed. Naru almost dropped the tray with every thing on it but had enough sense to put it down first. He swiftly went to her side and lifted her into a sitting position, he concluded that all the drama of this case had tested her limits a bit.

He sighed and propped her up against the wall. Naru moved the tea from it's spot in the middle of the hall and placed it next to himself as he joined his brunette assistant. He poured tea into one of the cups and brought the amber liquid to his lips. He breathed in the scent of the tea as it slid across his tongue. Ceylon tea, it was a familiar favorite that he hadn't had in quite a long time, not since he left home.

He turned to look at Mai, her face was peaceful which made him wonder if or what she was dreaming about.

* * *

_Mai found herself standing in front of a large group of people. "What's going on?" she asked looking around trying to find a familiar face._

_"Excuse me?" some one, asked from behind. Mai turned around to find that the voice came from a beautiful woman with long brown hair and green eyes. All around her seemed to glow with light._

_"Hana-san!?" Mai exclaimed. The woman nodded with a smile that's when Mai noticed the man standing next to her. "And Byakuya-san?"_

_He nodded as well. Mai turned around again to look at all of the people's faces again. She realized that these were most of the people she saw in her dreams. Mai saw the children, the construction worker, and also some hikers too. "B-but how?"_

_One of the children ran up. "You helped us!" she said cheerfully._

_Hana nodded with a smile. "We wanted to thank you." As soon as she said that the crowd nodded and bowed slightly as they began to disappear._

_"Wait Hana! Hiroshi! He's waiting for you." Mai called out to Hana before she vanished. For a moment Mai was alone, not knowing if Hana heard her she sighed and turned around. Standing before her was none other than Naru, a smile on his handsome face. She smiled back and walked over to him as her smile faltered. "Naru, what happened to those bandits? Where did they go?"_

_"Mai, there are spirits that are so far lost not even the best can't save them if those spirits don't wish to be saved. But those men even though they were evil, wanted to be saved. They wanted to be purified and leave this world." He told her, the gentle smile never leaving his face. "For the longest time they were confused and didn't know they were dead but eventually they became angry with frustration. All they wanted was to pass on, now that they have, most likely those men will have to repent their sins, where ever they are now, to be completely absolved. Ms. Matsuzaki did a good job."_

_Mai said nothing instead she placed her chin in her hand. "All you all right?" he asked confusion showing clearly on his face._

_"Yeah, but why am I here? If all they wanted to do was thank, me wouldn't have been better to just… I don't know, write it out or something?" she asked._

_"Mai, I'm just your guide and there are many things in the supernatural world we do not know." He replied with a chuckle, which took Mai by surprise. "He must be rubbing off on you."_

_"Naru? What do you mean?" she asked curiously. "Who?"_

_He shook his head and smiled. Waving good bye, he disappeared._

* * *

"Wait!" Mai shouted jerking awake.

"Wait for what?" Lin asked looking over at her from his position at the desk. Naru had brought her in about an hour before and placed her on the couch. Lin hadn't really bothered asking what happen and Kazuya left to go do something else, leaving him to baby sit Mai… yet again. Turning his attention back to the petite girl sitting on the couch and watched somewhat amused as she turned several shades of red. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"Uh no, no, no, nothing at all!" she waved her hands about frantically. "Hey, um, Lin?" she asked obviously changing the subject.

"Yes?" he replied turning back to his laptop. He had to finish up the final report before they could start packing up the equipment.

"Where did Naru go?" Mai asked, he hinted shyness in her voice.

Lin didn't bother to turn around. "He went to see the other most likely." He replied hearing footsteps behind him he assumed that she was going to leave to find him, but as they moved toward him he guessed that he could be wrong every now and then. He turns around to face Mai again. "Is there something else?"

"Yeah, is it possible for spirits to call a person in to the astral plane?" She asked.

'I haven't heard that one before.' He thought, a bit shocked. For a moment he paused to collect his thoughts. "Mai, I'm not sure I've heard any thing like that happening before. I know that spirit guides play a role in aiding a person who has projected themselves there. But I've never heard of spirits actually call someone. Did something happen?" he asked with a mixture of confusion and concern for the girl.

Her eyes were hesitant as she turned around to walk away. "No… I think I'm going to go fined the others." She said before almost sprinting out the door. Lin started at the spot in which she had stood, pondering what she had just said. 'What ever happened she wasn't very clear.' He thought turning back to the computer. He pulled up another word document and typed down what she had said. 'This might be important later.'

* * *

Mai ran down the halls glancing quickly through the doorways of the rooms she passed in hopes of finding her friends. At last she came to the foyer where she found Ayako and John. "Ayako! John!" she called happily when she spotted them.

"Hey Mai!" John said when she was by his side. "We were wondering when you were gong to wake up."

"Yeah, sorry about that, I was really tired." She replied with a small laugh and turned to Ayako. "Hey where's Monk?" she asked curiously.

The miko had changed out of her traditional dress into a pair of tight fitting jeans and a long sleeve black top. "He went to go get the family and that Tora kid went with him." She said and then leaned in hooking her arm around the younger girl's shoulders. "Hey Mai, you won't believe this but, Tora doesn't remember anything from after the fire."

Mai gasped and looked to John and back at Ayako. "No way! Is she serious? Are you serious? That means the entire time I was with him he was really Hiroshi!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, I believe that's exactly what she just said." Naru dead panned as he walked by the three.

"Naru!" growled the pixie like girl, glaring very un-pixie-like.

"John you may go back to your room, but I do believe that Mai and Ms. Matsuzaki have equipment to pack." He said glance at the group briefly and then walked a few feet before he stopped once more. "Oh and Mai?"

"Yeah, tea. I know." She huffed, rolling her eyes and walked in the direction of the kitchen. Muttering darkly under her breath something along the lines of: "Impossible! Egotistical! Narcissistic jerk! I can't believe I'm actually going to be living with him…."

Not noticing the smirk that graced her boss's features as she had turned away.

Once in the kitchen Mai went about the routine of grabbing the essentials for making tea, not really paying attention. It wasn't till she had turned on the stove to place the water on when she felt the presence of someone behind her. Placing down the teapot she turned to face her visitor, smiling brightly when she saw the TV medium standing at the door. "Hi Masako!"

The medium ignored the greeting and walked over to the tea to examine the box and flavors it held. Not really knowing what to do, Mai decided to pull out another tray to put the teacups on. 'Why is she so stubborn? I didn't do anything, did I?' she thought glancing at her friend and love rival. But luckily for her (or maybe not), Masako turned her gaze on Mai. 'This is obviously not going to be good.' She thought, sighing inwardly but amazingly enough Yasu popped into the kitchen and saved her from what ever the medium was about to do.

"Hey Mai, the big boss isn't going to wait forever ya' know. He needs his tea." Yasuhara said and when he saw Masako smiled kindly at her. Though as soon as he had popped in, he popped out and disappeared back to base.

"Yeah, tell him I'll be right there." She said spinning around back to the pot on the stove, taking it off right as it began to whistle. Quickly pouring the tea in to the cups on the tray, Mai placed the pot on the side of the tray and carefully carried the heavy tray out of the kitchen. Thankful that she didn't have to deal with the medium and what ever problem she was going cause.

She arrived at the door to base and kicked it lightly, hoping that someone would open the door for her. She waited for a moment and kicked the door again. Form inside she heard Yasu say something but it wasn't clear what and then the door was slammed open by none other than Naru himself. "Naru?" she asked trying to read the expression on his face, but immediately regretted opening her mouth when he flashed his icy cold blue eyes.

"Uh umm… here's your tea?" she nervously, stepping out of his way. He grabbed a cup muttered something the sounded like a 'thanks' and walked briskly down the hall in the direction of the teams' rooms. "Okay then. So he's in a bad mood." She commented to herself, half wondering what Yasuhara had said that upset him so much.

Upon entering the base every one stopped what they were doing (even Lin) and stared at Mai, all was quiet. Then Yasu knowingly glanced at Ayako who looked back at him and then smiled at John, who returned their knowing looks with a grin before they burst into fits of laughter. Mai stood there for a moment confused and then gave up, rolling her eyes. 'If they don't stop in the next five minutes, the lack of oxygen is going to kill them.' She thought sarcastically.

* * *

Naru placed his now empty cup on the cherry wood desk in his room. Calmer than he was when he left the base. He sat down on the soft bed in which he had so comfortably slept in for the past week. Tired he rested his head on the pillow and let his thoughts sort through themselves, and then block the seeds of inappropriate images in which Yasuhara had planted in his mind.

The words surfaced to the forefront of his mind. ' " Hey, I wonder if that's Mai. Ya' know I bet she'd look really cute in one of those maid outfits with the really short skirts and high heel would go nicely too, the way she carries that tea tray around…. It would be great for a Halloween office party, don't you think boss?" ' Naru hadn't been looking at the college student but he knew that he had that stupid smile on his face and of course the images of Mai in that outfit would have made it impossible to look at her.

Naru sighed and began to wonder how living with her was going to work, he didn't really cook and his place was rather baron. Plus they still needed to get rid of what ever was haunting her apartment. Assuming Mai knew how to cook and depending on how organized she was, which he was a skeptic, would determine on how well living together would be. But his thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door. "Come in." he said getting up from his bed and walked over to the window over looking a snowy path leading up to the mountain.

"You wanted to see me." Said a soft voice spoke from behind him.

"Ms. Hara, I'd like to ask your assistance on another case when we get back to the office." He said formally as he faced the short TV star.

"Naru, you know you can call me by my first name." She said sweetly, an almost too eager smile on her face.

Ignoring the comment, he went on with what he was saying. "We would need you to walk through Mai's apartment, do to the evidence gather so far we can't be sure about the level of danger of this case and would like you to tell us if there is any thing there."

Masako covered her mouth with her sleeve. "I'd have to check my schedule," she said curtly. "But I'm sure that I am booked for the next _month_, or so."

"Than I thank you for your assistance on this case, Ms. Hara." Naru bowed slightly. The medium didn't even look at him or respond as she angrily stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut behind her. Not really knowing what he did, Naru went over and began to pack his clothes but once again he was interrupted by another knock at his door. "Come in."

"Hey, Naru, the Suzumi's are back." His assistant informed him cheerfully. "They told all of us to meet them in the dinning room in a hour and a half."

He placed another shirt in his suitcase and looked at his watch, 11:28am and he was in need of more tea. "Do the others know?" he asked not really caring.

"Yeah, they know." She replied and turned back to the door but she turned again to face him. "Hey Naru, I was wondering if you knew, oh… I don't know.. Why she's in a bad mood? I asked her what was wrong and she gave me this look like she wanted to push me down the stairs."

"None at all, but I would avoid her for a while." Naru said, a smirk playing at his lips. He caught a glimpse of her rolling her eyes, for some reason his worries from before went away. "Mai, tea… please."

"Sure, I'll bring here" she replied slightly surprised before she left.

Naru watched her go and now it was his turn to roll his eyes. "I have more manners than they give me credit for." He muttered.

* * *

The ninety minutes passed quickly and the SPR team, who had been banned for entering the dining room and the kitchen, were really hungry and tea deprived. Of course that meant avoiding Naru at all costs. Going near him would mean getting a look so cold that you felt that you had been thrown in a snow drift with only your underwear on, well at least that's what Monk had told Mai. So Monk, Ayako, Yasu, and Mai opted for going out side and having a snowball fight with their clothes on. Lin and John decided to stay in preferring not to get cold of wet. Masako was in her room.

At the moment Yasu and Mai were hiding behind their snow fort as a barrage of snowballs flow over their heads. "Yasu, what do you think we should do?" she asked grabbing up some snow and shaping it into a ball.

"I say, the moment they pause, we stand and give'm all we got!" he answered excitedly, then he paused, a sly smile forming on his lips, added. "Or we could go for a more indirect route."

Mai glanced at her partner before checking over their wall. "What do you mean an indire— Ouch! Damn you, Monk! I'll get you for that!!" she yelled throwing her own snowball nailing him in the face. Yasu pulled her back down, saving her from being hit by Ayako.

"The indirect route would mean one of us staying here, while the other one doubles back and takes them from behind." He told her smiling.

"I'll stay here then, now go while you still have the chance Yasu." Mai grabbed another snowball. "Hey Ayako, you throw like and old woman!"

"An old woman! Why you little brat! Take this!" the red head, yelled throwing a barrage of snowballs. Mai ducked and threw another and for a while it was back and forth snowballs accompanied by meaningless insults by both parties. Then the real fun began when Yasu was on the other side launching snowballs at their backs. Their mini war went on till Yuki and Kiki called them in.

* * *

Walking into the dining room the SPR team was in awe. Before them was a table lined with beautiful plates and delicious looking foods on a magnificent holiday table clothe but it wasn't just the food or the table, the entire room was decked out in holiday galore. In the corner of the room there was a large Christmas tree covered in lights and beautiful ornaments, along the walls there was garland with red ribbons connecting the lengths and the back of the chairs had small wreaths, each decorated as if to match each individuals personality. The Suzumis were dressed in white shirts with red vests, black skirts or pants and around their collars were red bow ties. Yuki, Tora, and Kisuke stood off to one side of the table with clothes over their arms were ready to be the team's waiters. Kiki, Mrs. and Mr. Suzumi had aprons on and stood by the kitchen doors, which also had wreaths on them.

Mrs. Suzumi stepped forward and smiled. "Welcome and may we wish you a Merry Christmas! Now please, have a seat and eat." She said kindly.

Mai walked over to a seat at the end of the table but Yuki grabbed her hand. "I sorry, my lady, but your seat is up here with Mr. Shibuya." He said waving over Naru and leading them both to the other end of the table. Mai's wreath was decorated with white and pink ribbons and had a red heart in the middle, while Naru's had different hues of blues with hints of black and silver. Kisuke lead Monk and Ayako next to Mai, their wreaths complemented each other with amber tones of red and oranges. Kiki lead Lin and John to their seats on the other side of Naru, who was sitting at the head of the table. Lin's wreath had small Chinese lanterns and small red ribbons. John's wreath had gold accents and little wooden kangaroos with a Santa clause in the middle wearing a T-shirt and holding a surfboard. Then lastly, Yasu and Masako were lead by Tora to their seats next to John. Masako's wreath had colorful flowers and origami swans. Yasu had an odd assortment of anime and manga characters decorating his wreath.

(the seating order kinda went like this:

Naru

Lin – Mai

John – Monk

Masako – Ayako

Yasu -- )

Every one began to dig in enjoying the meal and chatting with each other, even Masako dropped her bad mood. Lin and Naru were talking about something and Mai was doing her best to pay attention but Monk kept trying to take her food. "Monk! Get you own!"

"I would but you got the last one." He said reaching over her arm, to grab one of her dumplings but she smacked his hand away. John ate his food quietly and watch them go back and forth until it actually escalated to them using their chop sticks like swords. Kisuke and Tora tried to stop them but eventually they grabbed chopsticks too. Ayako rolled her eyes and ignored them as she talked to Masako about the latest fashion at which some point or another Yuki and Kiki joined them. Mrs. & Mr. Suzumi just watched and laughed.

It wasn't until after every one finished eating that they settled down. Mai sat back in her chair and did a once over of each of her companions. Masako hadn't eaten much but she was in the same position Mai was in and ditto for Ayako. Monk on the other hand was lying on the floor looking like he was going to be sick, Kisuke and Tora looked a little nervous as they hovered near by with a bucket.

John and Yasu looked content, though she really couldn't tell if Lin was or not… 'You would think that Naru would be running to the bathroom' she thought to her self as he took yet another sip of tea. 'How many cups is that now? Fourteen? Fifteen?'

Then Naru stood and turned to the old couple who had just come back from the kitchen. "Excuse me? I'd like to say on the behalf of all of us, Thank you for this meal." He said with a bow. Mai and Lin stood to and bowed with him.*

"No, we must thank you! You saved our son and you saved our inn, it was what we had to do to show you how much we appreciate it. Also if you're ever in the area again you can stay here if you like." Mr. Suzumi said smiling. "Good luck with your travels."

"Yes, thank you." Naru replied as he and Lin exited the room.* Mai took this as her moment to say her thanks to the family as well.

"Zazo-san, thank you so much! And I'd also like to thank your sons too, they were both very kind to me. The food was really great and you'll definitely see me again! But right now I gotta go help Mr. Shibuya!" Mai bowed once more and ran off after her boss. After all he wanted to leave today, so they all had to get packing. She hurried up to her room before going to base, she wanted to pack her belongings first. The brunette grabbed her blue suitcase and opened it up on the bed, going to the dresser she grabbed her already folded clothes and placed them in it. It only took her a few minutes to finish up. She placed her suitcase next to the door and walked down the halls to base, taking in the smell and feel of the inn.

"Move Mai, this is heavy." Grunted her boss who held a rather large unwieldy box.

"Oh, sorry Naru." She apologized and moved past him. She almost ran into Lin as well when he was coming out of the room. 'Dang, they're really moving fast! I wonder why?' she thought until she faced the mountain of equipment. 'Never mind then.'

"Mai stop standing around and start doing something." Naru ordered, picking up a monitor.

"Right away, boss." She replied sarcastically.

* * *

Mai waved out the window to the family as they shrank from her view. Everyone had packed their things and hurried out to the awaiting taxis before coming to help with the equipment, which Lin, Naru and Mai had mostly finished. Though at the moment Naru was more concerned with getting them to the train station on time. It was unknown to the others until a short while ago that Naru and Lin had already bought the train tickets and few days before for today. Which is the only reason they had to rush out the door and give and the wonderful Suzumi family hurried hugs and farewells. Yuki though had some how found mistletoe at the last moment so that he could give Mai a _special _good bye kiss, which had Naru promptly stopped and dragged his assistant away to the taxi.

"Mai, sit down." Naru ordered from his seat next to her. Mai gave him a look and stuck out her tongue but complied. 'Geez! How did I get stuck riding with them? Again!' she thought exasperated, glancing at her boss, who was next to her and then at Lin who opted taking the empty front seat to sitting cramped in the back.

The ride to the train station didn't take as long as it did when they first arrived. Lucky for them, they had just made it in time to catch the train. Seeing how the ride back home was three hours, every one had decided it was best to be quite and rest. That's exactly what Mai did, as she leaned back in her seat next to her boss and closed her eyes.

* * *

Lin quietly pulled out his camera, glancing quickly at his other companions. Mai fell asleep leaning on Naru's shoulder. Naru had eventually fell asleep himself, with his head resting on Mai's. Taking a few quick pictures he carefully slid out of his seat and moved to take a few photos of Ayako and Monk. Monk had fallen asleep with his new girlfriend in his arms. This was something he knew Madoka would want to see. Though he left Yasu and John alone, they weren't the type of people to be black mailed and not find out. Sliding back into his seat Lin pulled out his laptop and began writing. Pausing for a moment, Lin looked out the window to take in one final view of the glorious mountain. He was glad this case was closed, but he hadn't gotten a chance to actually hike the mountain trains like he had wished to. 'Maybe the next time Naru gives me some time off..' He thought. 'I'll come back in the summer.' But glancing at Mai again, he already knew that they had another case beckoning at their door. One that wasn't going to be easy.

* * *

***Mai and Lin were the the only ones who could stand at the moment and they also felt it was the proper thing to do.**

***Lin and Naru were in a real hurry to find the bathroom, the estimated amount of tea the men drank was at least 3 1/2 pots. so yeah, they _really_ needed to go. **

***oh! and for anyone who was wondering where Masako went, she got her private car to come pick her up.**

**Okay, i know this chapter is really long, i mean i don't think i've ever written anything this long! boy, i'm tired now. But i really do hope that even though this is long that it's not boring or bad, so please review!!! i might be taking a break from this story though to write a few one-shots that have been bouncing around in my brain, but this story isn't over yet! we still don't know the dangers that plague Mai's apartment (or at least you don't) or what is going on with her relationship with Naru! so stay tuned and ah, WhySoAnonymous please don't do any thing drastic... please**

***this last one is about me, ^_^ my birthday is this thursday, jan. 21 and i'm really really excited! YAY!! **


	15. A Late Christmas Dinner

Hey, thanks for waiting! ^_^

Disclaimer: i don't own Ghost Hunt or any Ghost Hunt characters

please R&R!

* * *

Thursday, December 24

Mai had just finished unpacking when she heard Naru call her name. "Yeah, Naru?" she answered stepping out of his guest room, which was going to be her room until the problem at her apartment was resolved. Walking down the hall and into the living space she found him putting on his black trench coat. "Hey, we just got here. Where are you going?" she asked.

"The grocery store, there's no food." He stated plainly buttoning up his coat. "Is there any thing that you want me to get you?"

To be honest the question took her by surprise, but when she thought about it… there was a few things. "Yes, but I'll write them down." She replied quickly getting pen and paper and jotted down the ingredients of a recipe she was going to make for dinner, plus some of the basics. Handing him the list he glanced at it and sighed.

"What?" she asked giving him a look.

"Never mind, I'll be back later." With that he was out the door, leaving Mai to do what ever she wished. Though there wasn't really anything for her to do, so she wondered over the couch and sat down. Smoothing her hand across the fabric, Mai looked around the apartment. 'I guess he doesn't spend a lot of time here.' She thought lazily, as she played with the necklace charm around her neck*.

The walls were painted in neutrals and the cranberry red furniture looked barely used. It was then the idea suddenly hit her, grinning mischievously she jumped up from the couch. Racing to her room and she grabbed her coat, boots _and_ her wallet.

* * *

Naru finally stepped up to the ATM machine after waiting for what seemed like and hour. It was still freezing and snow was everywhere making it hard to walk. What made it worse, however, was that he slipped a total of four times on the damn ice that cover the bank's parking lot. 'Who would have thought there would be so many late holiday shoppers.' He thought glancing at the line behind him.

Earlier, he been surprised when he had looked over the list Mai gave him, it was a lot more than he usually got in a week, which was eggs, milk, bread, and canned soup. The tall raven-haired teen typed in his password and got out 8,995 yen*, his estimated cost of all the items on his assistant's list. Placing the cash in one of his coat's inner pockets, he tried to safely walk to his car, but alas, he had no luck. Cursing the weather once more he slammed his car door shut, turning up the heater.

The place he chose to stop was the 24/7 super market that was, as the name alludes, open 24/7 even on Christmas Eve.

When Naru stepped into the grocery store he grabbed a basket and looked to the first few things on the list. "Cornstarch, soy sauce, sugar, rice vinegar, and 3/4 pound lean beef." He mumbled to himself. "What is she planning to make?"

Even though he was a genius and could solve most, if not all, problems presented to him, Naru hadn't a clue about how to cook. Every time he tried to make something I'd just end up in a lot of smoke and crusty black stuff, so he decided to trust Mai on this one. 'After all anyone who could make tea the way she does has to know how to cook right? Right.' He concluded, walking over to the meat aisle to pick up some beef. He placed it his basket and proceeded to find the rest of the items on the list.

~25 minutes later ~

Naru had traded in his carrying basket for a cart because it wasn't till he got half way down the list that he realized that all the stuff wasn't going to fit in the little basket he usually used. But now he was waiting in line and it was a pain but pulling out the list once again as he did a check off. He didn't want to go home and find out he missed a vital ingredient, that would only end up with him having to go out and get it and have Mai use it against him later.

Getting a pen from his pocket he made dash next to each item.

Cornstarch -

soy sauce -

sugar -

rice vinegar -

2 pounds lean beef -

oyster sauce -

light soy sauce -

dark soy sauce -

pound fresh broccoli -

garlic cloves -

salt -

pepper -

onions -

cooking oil -

milk -

eggs -

bread -

butter -

2 peppers -

and rice -

When the slow-pok in front of him finally finished, he loaded on the food and waited for the overly eager check out girl to give him his total. Surprisingly enough the price was lower than he expected. Taking his change and replacing it in his pocket, Naru turned back to the check out girl. "May I have a recite?" he asked dully.

"Sure, here ya' go!" she said cheerfully, but when he turned away she called him back. "Hey Mr, if you ever need some company just call me!"

"I have a girlfriend." Naru replied automatically, ignoring the look she gave the back of his head.

'I have a girl friend?' He mused. 'That's a new one.' The bagging guy just rolled his eyes and helped take Kazuya's bags to his car. After tipping the bag guy, the stoic teen drove away and head back to his apartment, unaware of what his pretty little assistant had done.

* * *

After he dropped his charges off, Lin drove a few blocks to his fifth floor, two-bedroom apartment. He unpacked his bag and left his trusty laptop on the maple wood desk in his bedroom, all the usual things he'd do after returning home form a case. Though at the moment he wished he were still there.

Earlier Lin had been in his living room lounging his somewhat plush gray sofa reading a book, when he heard a knock on his door. A sound he usually heard when Kazuya wanted company out some place to eat, but this knock was different. Naru usually had an impatient sharp tap that was just loud enough to hear the first few times. This one was an almost rushed nervous knock that could probably be heard down the hall. With a sigh, Lin had placed his book aside and went to the door wonder who in the world would even be there.

When he had opened the door and peered into the hall he found, to his surprise, Mai. Her cheeks were red as if she had been running and when she saw him open the door her face had lit up with a smile. "Hey Lin!" she said with a little wave.

"Is there something you need, Mai?" he asked her.

"Oh yeah, there is! Could I ask you a favor?" Mai said sheepishly.

"What about Kazuya? Weren't you with him." Lin stared down at her, examining her. There was snow on her shoulders and around her boots, which had left wet footprints on the hall floor leading to his door.

"Yeah well, he's out grocery shopping and his place is kinda dull. So I've decided to decorate the living room with Christmas stuff!" She exclaimed happily. "Since I don't really know this area well and I can't drive I thought maybe… you could?"

Pausing for a moment the tall Chinese man thought it over a bit. 'The look on his face… it would be priceless.' With ghost of a smile Lin nodded. "Will you take pictures?" he was too amused.

"Yeah, it'd be great to see the look on Naru's face when he saw what I'm planing don't you think?" she replied giving him a wary look before grinning.

"Yes, well I'll get my keys." And that's exactly how he ended up hiding behind Naru's cranberry colored couch in the dark, with his camera. He had opted to hiding a little ways from the door so that he wouldn't be the first person Naru would see. Mai, on the other hand, had positioned her self behind the love seat almost right in front of the door but also near the outlet where she had plugged in the decorations.

"Hey someone's coming!" Lin heard his coworker squeal, he had never seen Mai this excited before. Though he wish the others were here as well but John was with his church, Ayako was introducing Monk to her family and Yasu had already made plans with his family as well. His kohai* had been a little disappointed when they'll said they couldn't come but it made taking pictures all the more imperative. Suddenly there was the click of keys in the door. The knob turned slowly and then someone poked their head in the room.

"Why is it so dark in here! I can't see a darn thing." That someone said. 'Wait… I know that voice.'

"Madoka?" he asked standing up from behind the couch.

"Lin? Turn a light on." She told him. Moving away from the couch he turned n the lamp near the wall.

"Madoka! What are you doing here!?" Mai exclaimed hugging the older woman, beating Lin to his question.

"Well I heard you guys got back so I decided to drop by." The pink haired women replied with a smile that made his heart flutter. "Now that I've answered your question, you've got to answer mine. What are you and Lin doing in Kazuya's apartment in the dark?"

Mai laughed and pointed to the festive holiday decorations, which included lights, a small Christmas tree with a few presents under it, and some other small holiday accents like scented candles and big red ribbons. "I wanted to surprise Naru and Lin helped me out." The brown eyed teen explained.

"Well that's so sweet! Lin, I knew you were just a big old softy." Madoka said playfully punching him in the arm.

At this point it was very hard to keep his well-put together mask up. So Lin decided to lead this someplace else, like why he was here in the first place. "I think we might be running out of time. Naru might even be on this street right now." He said diverting both of the ladies' attention.

"Mai! He's right, quick go where you were before and I'll hide over here." She said swiftly taking Lin's hand and leading him back behind the couch. Mai had quickly turned off the light and returned to her spot.

Lin and Madoka both kneeled down. "Hey, do you got a camera?" she whispered tugging his shirt a little. Nodding, he handed it to her. 'I'm sure if she took the pictures, Naru won't go snooping around my office again.' He thought with a smirk, the last time that happen his young boss was very close to discovering the photos. In his reminiscing he almost completely forgetting the fact that she was still holding his hand.

88888888888888888

Naru pulled up to his building and parked. For a minute he just sat there debating whether or not he should actually get out of his car but the fact that he actually had groceries in his car meant that he had to. Opening his door he stepped out of his car, feeling the crunch of snow beneath his black leather shoes. He grabbed the first six bags and headed to the building, walking slowly so that he wouldn't slip. When he got to his apartment he put a few bags down and reached within his pocket for his keys but when he went to unlock it he found that it was already open. Naru put down the other bags and examined the lock, finding small scratch marks along the keyhole. 'Great, that means she's here.' He thought as he slowly opened the door, preparing himself for the worst.

Though when the door was open he wasn't prepared at all. "Naru! Merry Christmas!" he heard several shouts from with in the room as it exploded with light. Before him was a room decorated with holiday cheer and the three people that were the closest to him. The whole scene before him was a complete surprise, one that had never crossed his mind on the list of things that his former teacher would do to his home.

"Mai what's going on?" he asked her bewildered, taking in his surroundings. Then his now icy eyes turned to glare at his older assistant. Lin just stood there casually with a smirk on his face next to the woman whom he was sure planned this.

"We're having a last minute Christmas party!" Mai's smile reached all the way up to her bright brown eyes. Naru rolled his deep blue eyes and decided that he'd let this one go, for Mai because he figured that she was happy, which was something he didn't want to mess up. But Lin and Madoka, on the other hand, were not going to get off the hook.

"Fine, then help me get the grocery's in." He ordered in mock irritation turning back to the bags in the hall and grabbed a few.

"Okay, did you get everything on the list Naru?" The pixie-like girl asked as she took two bags into his kitchen and examined their contents before putting them away.

"Of course." He answered setting down the bags he was carrying on the counter. "There are more in my car, but I'm sure Lin and Madoka can get them." He said casting a real irritated glare at them.

Lin said nothing as he grabbed his jacket but Madoka turned and glared at her former student. "Naru, that's no way to treat your guests! Don't be rude. How many times do I have to tell you." She scolded but he still threw the keys at her, which she snatched out of the air getting a startled look from Mai. "Hey! What did I just say?"

He turned to his former sensei, giving her a pointed look. "You picked the lock on my door and then you came barging into my home while I wasn't here. If I recall correctly, that is what they call 'breaking and entering,' then you call me rude? That's ridiculous, go assist Lin." He said coolly, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips. Madoka glared at him and marched out the door with Lin right behind her, he heard her grumbling something that sounded like the following: 'That little brat… is such a (something I'll leave to your imagination)… I … key… stupid car!'

"She'd have to pay for the insurance." Naru said mostly to himself but Mai heard and she started to giggle. He glanced at her curiously before putting the peppers in the stainless steel refrigerator. "What do you plan on making anyway?" he asked casually.

"Something simple, but I'll need some help if I'm going to make enough for everyone. Does Madoka cook?" she asked looking through the cabinets collecting up some pots and pans along with a few other utensils.

Naru paused for a moment as he thought back to the day when his former teacher offered to make lunch and he unknowing consented. An hour later he was in the hospital with severe food poisoning and the kitchen had caught on fire. From then on he had made it a point to watch who ever made his food, that is until he met Lin. Cringing slightly at the memory as he placed the broccoli next to the peppers. "No, but Lin is, you should ask him." He replied.

Mai gave him an odd look but nodded, placing a cutting board on the counter and then turned to face him directly. "Naru what's the plan for my apartment?" she asked, a mix of worry and apprehension in her eyes.

"We'll handle it like we would any other case, Mai." He said looking away from her with a sense of uneasiness that flickered over his features. This case was different, not because there someone he knew involved but the location and events just popping up the way they did gave him an ominous feeling. In the corner of his eye his saw her shift nervously before opening her mouth.

That was when Madoka and Lin returned for their little trip to his car. "We've got the rest of the food." Said the more boisterous of the two. 'Damn.' Naru thought looking back to his assistant, who had move to help the struggling pink haired woman. 'What was she going to say?'

Shrugging his shoulders he moved to Lin's side and grabbed a bag out of the man's hand. "Would you mind assisting Mai in the kitchen?" It wasn't really a question. The tall Chinese man nodded and carried his other bags to the small kitchen.

* * *

Mai watched in awe as she watched Lin cut, sliced and diced the food. He did it with such grace and precession, the knife practically danced across the cutting board. Though knowing she couldn't just stand there and watch him, Mai went to the stove and turned on two burners. Quickly she took the pans she had placed on the counter earlier and placed them in their appropriate places on top of the flames*, then grabbing the cooking oil she poured small amounts in each pan.

Lin handed her a bowl of cut vegetables, handling it carefully she poured the contents into the pan. The veggies were followed quickly by a small plate of beef, which had been cut into strips by the incredibly talented man who was now leaning against the counter. Grabbing a wooden spoon Mai began to sauté the vegetables in one pan and cook the meat in the other. In about five minutes she'd combine the two and have them mix flavors as they sizzled in the pan.

Over in the living room she could hear Madoka giving Naru a lecture about people skills and how to act like a good host. "Do they always do that?" she asked Lin.

The dark haired man smirked. "Sometimes, but only when they haven't seen each other in a while." He replied, but then he glanced over at the empty table in his young boss's 'dinning area.' "I'll go set the table."

And with that he left the young brunette to finish preparing the food.

~ About 15 minutes later ~

"Wow Mai! This … is… amazing!" Madoka exclaimed between bites of food.

Naru rolled his dark blue eyes as his former teacher stuffed her face. Mai laughed and looked around to the content expressions on the men's faces, knowing that she had gotten their unspoken approval. 'I guess living with Naru won't be that bad after all.' She thought happily.

* * *

Later that night, after Lin and Madoka left and the dishes were washed. Naru went to his room to change, pulling out his favorite pair on gray pajamas. He put them on and then running his hand through his dark hair he decided to check on a few things before he turned in. he walked quietly down the hall and to the front door to check the lock. When he turned around, away from the door, he saw Mai lying asleep on the couch and a book in her hands. Naru walked over to the couch and sat on its edge next to her. He gently shook her shoulder. "Mai." He said quietly.

'Great she's out of it.' He thought with a sigh. Her face was calm and the light from the lamp behind her gave her skin a healthy glow. Sliding one arm around her shoulders and the other under her legs he lifted her up. Her head fell against his shoulder, exposing her bare neck. The book that was in her hands fell face up on the couch, barely making a sound. Slowly he walked to her temporary bedroom, luckily for him the door was ajar making it easy for him to push it open with his foot.

He pulled back the covers and laid her on the bed, but as he moved to stand Mai's hand had suddenly gripped the sleeve of his shirt tightly. He took her hand and loosened its grip. Naru looked at her face, which had changed drastically from peaceful to pained. "Mai." He shook her shoulder trying to wake her but to no avail.

* * *

_Mai stood frozen in fear. Everything in her brain screamed run but her body wouldn't listen. The hell hound in front of her bared its teeth and flexed its large muscles. Fire was were its eyes should be, burning with fury. _

_She needed to run. 'Come on Mai, move! You've got to!' She willed she self. _

_At that moment the beast let out a wild howl and crouched low prepared to attack. That's when she ran, she ran and didn't stop. Behind her, she could hear it. The pounding of its feet made the ground vibrate. Mai couldn't understand why this was happening or what she did to deserve it but as she ran, she began to notice her surroundings. 'This is the roof of my apartment building! Why am I here?!' her thoughts screamed. _

_The hound was catching up and she was almost out of roof. There was only one thing she could do and that was to jump. Suddenly she was flying through the air, pain radiating from her side. Mai painfully landed near the edge of the roof. The hell hound slowed in it's approach as if to brag about it's victory. 'What am I supposed to do?' she thought as tears began to well up. 'Naru, help me! Please!'_

_The hound was bounding to her, _

_She screamed and then there was nothingness. _

* * *

***8,995 yen = $100 in the US. yeah i know that's a little much to spend on food but better be safe than sorry!**

***it's a gas stove top, which i very handy when the power goes out ;)  
**

**okay, i know it's taken me a long time to update but, i have reason and that reason is school. homecoming, art club, student gov. - all that good stuff + papers and tests. so please forgive me and i promise to update sooner! also i'm going to shorten the chapters a bit cuz it'll help me update faster. **

**thanks so much for reading! ^_^ please review!  
**


	16. Feelings of Love?

**Hello every one!! i do apologize for the extremely long wait but i thank you for your patience. ^_^**

**please R&R!**

**disclaimer: i don't own Ghost Hunt of any of it's characters.**

* * *

Friday, December 25

Naru stopped shaking Mai, knowing that it wouldn't help but when he did Mai began to clutch her side. 'It must be getting worse! What is going on?!' He thoughts were scrambled and frantic. 'Calm down… think.' He took a breath and looked around the room, which was mostly bare because he never usually had guests. Gently he loosened her grip on his shirt went over to the small dresser.

On the small oak dresser he saw Mai's things spread across it's bare top, there was lip gloss, keys, a few pictures, some necklaces, and her cell phone. 'Wait! The necklace!' He thought picking it up off the top of the pile along with the cell phone. 'If she is stuck in one of those dreams than the charm on the necklace might be able to break whatever's trapped her there… at least until I can call Lin.' He quickly turned back to her and retied the necklace around her neck.

Slowly the pain withdrew from her face but she didn't wake up. "Mai, wake up." He said taking hold of her hand. "Wake up so that you can tell me what happened, so we can help you, so that I can help you. Damn it, why do all these things happen to you?"

He sat on the edge of the bed and rested his head in his free hand, waiting for an answer that he knew wasn't going to come. 'This week has been too long… I'm exhausted…' Naru thought warily glancing at the bedside clock* he had gotten for Mai. 'Lin should still be up, I think.'

He picked up the small pink phone and flipped it open, dialing the number of his "body guard." It actually took a while before the Chinese man actually picked up. "What do you want Mai? It's almost midnight." A slightly annoyed man grumbled into the phone.

"You have Mai on your caller ID?" Naru asked dully.

"Naru?… why do you have Mai's phone?" Lin asked.

"I believe I asked you first." Naru replied.

"She stole my phone last… that's not important. Did something happen?" He asked sounding more a wake.

"I'm not really sure what happened but I think Mai was in one of her dreams. What ever she was doing in her dream was causing physical pain." He said as he began to rhythmically rub his thumb across the sleeping girl's hand.

"Were you able to wake her up?" Lin was now completely awake.

"No, but I think I stopped the dream. Remember that necklace I had you make, it may have been shielding her from these dreams until she took it off." Naru pointed out.

"So you put back around her neck and you still couldn't wake her up?…" Lin paused in thought before he continued. "I'll come by tomorrow around nine. Don't remove the necklace but I'd stay with her and make sure that nothing else happens."

"All right…and Lin?"

"Yeah?"

"Tell Madoka she snores." Naru closed the phone and put it next to the clock.

Then he stared down at the floor thinking of possible causes of what ever was tormenting his assistant. 'It couldn't just be a spirit, a spirit could follow her but it couldn't cause so trouble away from the place it was originally attached to.' Naru closed his tired eyes. 'Then it could be a curse… though I'm sure someone like Mai doesn't have many enemies.'

With a sigh he open his dark blue eyes and looked back at his sleeping assistant. "Wake up Mai, I can't do all of the thinking." He mumbled.

* * *

"_Hello!" _

"_Naru?!" …_

"_Lin…?"_

" _Anybody!!"_

'_Where am I?' Mai thought to herself. There was only darkness, like someone had painted everything black and forgot to install any lighting. She could remember the dream she had earlier, the hound tearing across the roof of her apartment building and her own scream. 'Am I dead?… No, I'm not dead. That monster never reached me.' She reasoned with her self, not wanting to even humor the idea. Shaking her head she tried to think of less depressing things. _

'_This would be a good time to collect data, I suppose.' Mai thought, knowing that it would be what Naru would do if he were there with her. 'The monster never got me so I'm not dead, but I don't think I'm in the astral plane either… when ever I go there those small lights always show up. Which means I'm in a dream or I was. Does that mean that someone stopped the dream? Maybe Naru will know.' _

_After a while she decided to stop and rest because even though there was really no where to go in the dark space she had been walking around the entire time. Slowly Mai sat down, carefully, trying to feel the ground or what ever was beneath her feet. It was, to her surprise, soft. She was about to move her right hand to smooth out the surface when she felt as if some one was holding her hand. In fact it was warm and she could almost hear some one talking._

"_All right…and Lin?" the voice asked. 'Is that Naru? Why is he talking to Lin? Is Lin here too?' Mai wondered lying back on the soft surface. She couldn't here Lin's response so she figured that it must be a phone call._

"…_she snores." The voice was muffled and she couldn't here the first part. 'Who snores? Do I snore? No, of course not, Masako or Ayako would have told me that a long time ago… I hope.' Mai thought slightly embarrassed._

"_Wake up Mai, I can't…" the voice mumbled, but this time she was sure it was him._

'_Okay, so I am asleep but why does Naru sound so… so sad?' She wondered. 'Should I wake up now?'_

_Mai was still for a moment, and tried to open her eyes but nothing happened, the darkness. For whatever reason she couldn't even move. The surface under her shifted slightly from what felt like added someone sitting down next to her. Mai wondered again if it was Naru, and if he was the one holding her hand. Testing her theory she focused her energy into her hand, squeezing it lightly. The reaction wasn't immediate but she felt a strong grasp around her hand. _

"_Mai, can you hear me?" the voice asked, though it sounded more demanding. _

_She whispered his name and willed her heavy eyelids to open. _

The room was dark but when she turned her head she could see the outline of his body anxiously leaning over her.

"Are you awake?" he asked leaning closer, her hand still grasped in his.

She offered a weak smile and nodded, not sure if she could speak just yet. Naru's form was becoming clearer as her eyes adjusted to the dark, on his face was visible relief.

"I want you to rest for a few hours, Lin said head come over around nine. It's three, so there's time to kill." He told her, his dark blue eyes intently studied her face. Then he looked away. "Are you okay?" Naru asked softly.

"Yeah" she replied as she sat up. Mai did a quick check of everything, moving her fingers, toes, and flexing her different limbs – all in all making sure that all of her self worked. How ever she had yet to notice how close they were to each other. "Naru – " she turned to him but stopped short realizing that she was only inches from his face.

"Yes?" he asked locking his gorgeous blue eyes with hers, curiosity flickered around the edges of the exhaustion that couldn't be masked in his eyes.

She swallowed and looked away to recover herself. "Um you should get some rest too, you look exhausted." She told him lightly trying to keep a look wonder masked behind calmness. It still amazed her how drop dead gorgeous he could be, even if he was in pajamas and exhausted.

* * *

For a few moments Mai and Naru sat in silence before the tiredness finally over whelmed him. Naru slowly lied back on the bed, closing his dark blue eyes unable to keep them open any longer. He felt Mai move closer to him and then placed her cool hand on his forehead. "I'm not sick Mai." He told her bluntly.

"Well, I was just making sure." She replied pulling her hand away but he stopped her. Taking her hand in his own. Mai was hesitant but she interlaced her fingers with his.

He sighed and rested his other hand on his chest. He lightly pulled her next to him, inviting her to rest against his side. Which was something he would normally never do, but there was a feeling that was rising in him that said that she should be with him because if she wasn't something bad would happen. Slowly he opened one eye to gaze at the girl – no, the young woman, in front of him. Again there was hesitation, and a fierce blush, but there was a look in her eyes that he only saw every once in a while. He had seen that look when she visited him in the hospital or when she made him some extra special tea and a few times when she was setting up the equipment as he talked to clients of whatever case they were on.

But only when she thought he wasn't looking. It wasn't a look of wanting or greed, Mai Taniyama was not the kind of person who would want someone just to have them. He has known her long enough to know that.

It was a caring look, a look of love? He wasn't sure at the moment.

Closing his eye again he pulled her hand again to let her know that he was still waiting. Slowly Mai let go of his hand and lied down in the nook of his arm, resting her head on his shoulder. In the silence as they laid there together, Naru, with out even noticing fell asleep.

* * *

Mai opened the refrigerator and pulled out the eggs. "Now I don't know how he likes his eggs, so I'll just make omelets!" she said happily as she grabbed the onions and peppers, placing all the items on the counter. "Maybe I should go out a get tomatoes and cheese later too…"

'This morning was so weird.' She thought to herself as she began to beat the eggs. 'Though, I would has guessed he'd wake up earlier or something.' The image of sleeping Naru dance across her mind causing her to blush a rosy red.

~ Earlier that morning ~

_Mai's brown eyes widened as she saw Naru's incredibly handsome face so incredibly close to hers. She almost got up and backed away but decided that would be a bad idea, with him having his arms around her an' all. How was she so close to him was beyond her but the fact that she was meant that more than she could put in words. _

_So she thought I'd be a good idea to carefully get up and make him break fast, that is of course after she took a shower. So after she slipped away from the bed, she grabbed an outfit from her open draw and tiptoed to the bathroom._

~ Back to making breakfast ~

'That was about an hour and a half ago so Naru should be waking up soon.' She thought to her self while she placed the pan on the burner. "Maybe I should wake him up. Last night he said Lin would be hear at nine and it's eight now." She said aloud glancing at the stove top clock.

'No, he needs his sleep. After all the times he has saved me, it must make him pretty tired.' Mai thought back to when she had been pushed off the cliff and he was there holding her when she woke up. 'Now he has even let me stay in his own home because my apartment was robbed. Even if he is a jerk sometimes I have to face the facts. Naru is a kind person and I – I love him.' A blush spread across her face.

The smell of the sizzling food brought her back to the meal she was preparing. Carefully she flipped the omelet and added the veggies and spices. She folded the omelet together and put it on a plate she had grabbed from the cabinet earlier. She turned on the oven to 100 degrees and placed the plate inside to keep the food warm. Then she proceeded on making the next omelet.

While she was working on that she had failed to notice that Naru had been standing in the doorway to the kitchen, a slight smile on his lips. He had considered walking in and surprising her but he turned around and decided it would be a better idea not to do that particularly when she's surrounded by sharp and/or hot kitchen appliances. 'Besides,' he thought as he walked to the bathroom. 'I need a shower.'

From her place at the stove Mai finished making the second omelet and placed it in the oven next to the other one. She turned around and set the small table for two, after she was done with that Mai went back to her room to get some of the tea she had brought with herself from the office.

On her way there she past the bathroom were she heard the squeak of the shower as it turned off. 'I guess he's wake.' She thought entering her room and taking the tea out of her bag, grabbing the tin labeled English Breakfast. 'I think he'll like this kind, though I haven't had it before.'

Mai turned the tin over and read the back as she walked into the hall, not noticing Naru coming out of the bathroom. (Though what was about to happen wasn't really her fault entirely, Naru has to share the blame to because he – just as she was – wasn't paying attention either.) At that exact moment Mai remember that she had left the stove top on with the pan still on it, the young brunette speed forward smack dab into her, rather damp, raven haired boss who, I might add, was only clad in a light blue towel.

Mai fell right into Naru's chest as his back roughly hit the floor. "Jeez, Mai. Would you mind watching were you're going next time." He told her, propping himself up on his elbows. Mai didn't really hear him though, she was to focused on the fact that she was lying on his bare chest which was, to her amazement, toned. A deep red blush spread across her face, as she looked away from his body quickly trying to hide her burning face.

* * *

Naru sat up carefully, supporting Mai's back with one arm. For a moment he regard the girl that was now in his lap with uncertainty that he wasn't used to. "Is there something wrong?" he asked turning her face towards himself with one hand.

"N-no." She replied still not looking him in the face but blushed even more when she noticed how she was positioned on his lap.

'I wonder…' he thought as a smile played across his lips as he leaned in, placing a soft kiss at the base of her neck. Then another and another till he got to her lips, it was there he leaned away. His dark blue eyes studied her face, waiting for her to make the next move.

Mai had also been studying him, her hands had even been rest on his chest but as she leaned closer to him. "I… I left the stove top on." She whispered to him as she got up from his lap.

Naru watched her almost sprint down the hall. 'For a moment, she was just inches away…' He thought with a sigh, then getting up he adjusted his towel and walked to his room.

* * *

Lin arrived around ten.

The first thing he heard after he rang the door bell was Mai. "Coming!" she shouted but you could only imagine who beat her to the door.

"Lin, you are late."

"That would not be my fault." He replied.

"Oh, really? Then who's would it be?" the raven haired teen asked accusingly. Be hind him Lin could see Mai struggling to push Naru away from the door.

'That smart ass is getting on my nerves' The tall Chinese man thought. "Traffic. Are you going to let me in or should I just go back on the icy roads filled with ramped half drunk morons who can't drive?" he dead panned.

"Go ahead."

"Naru!! Don't be rude!" Mai shouted finally succeeding in the great task of pushing the stubborn mule out of the way. "Hey Lin! Come on in, would you like some tea?"

"That would be fine." He replied noticing the awkward tension between the two almost adults, Mai and Naru hadn't once looked each other in the eye. 'Naru must have done something.' The handsome Chinese man glanced at his 'boss,' who was watching Mai walk into the kitchen. 'Yup it was defiantly him.'

Lin sat down in the chair across from the couch and took out his laptop from his briefcase. He turned it on, silently waiting for Mai to come back with the tea. "Naru, she seems like she's alright."

"Yeah, but I still want to know what happened and what the cause is." He told Lin.

"But why didn't you ask her earlier?" he asked typing in the password to his computer.

"I wanted to give her some time to think about it and collect her thoughts, besides it's easier to understand her when she isn't crying." Naru glanced back in the direction of the kitchen.

"Alright." Was his only reply but when he felt the weight of the young man's stare on him he glanced back. "What?" he asked innocently.

Naru rolled his eyes. "You better – "

But Mai gracefully interrupted as she walked in and placed the tea on the coffee table. "Here ya' go!"

"Thank you. Do you mind if we ask you some questions?" he took one of the cups off the tray.

"Oh, you mean about my dream…" she said looking into the amber liquid contained in her own tea cup. "I think it would be better if you let me tell you with out interruptions, from the beginning, is that alright?" Mai asked looking up from her tea and to his face.

Lin nodded. "Take your time. Remember you're our client Mai."

At this Lin saw Naru's eyes soften as he barely above a whisper. "We'll keep you from harm."

The young pixie-like girl, took a calming breath. "It was that day Naru found me out side…"

* * *

**Thanks for reading, this chapter was really being difficult and sorry if i missed used any words - i haven't had time to proof read this. anyway i hope this was close to what some of you were asking for ;)**

**please review and stayed tune - a dark cloud is on the horizon!**


	17. An Almost Confession

**Hi (waves nervously) thanks for the wait! i, ah, put a surprise in this chappy that'll blow your mind so...  
**

**please R&R!!!**

**i don't own Ghost Hunt or any of it's characters  
**

* * *

Saturday, December 26

Mai had just finished cleaning up the kitchen from lunch when she plopped down on the cranberry red couch. She pulled her knees to her chest and rested her head on them as she gazed out of the window. It had stopped snowing earlier that morning, the weatherman said that the rest of the week would be clear of it but until than they couldn't go to her apartment. With the roads completely frozen, driving would be rather hazardous. Though some how Lin had found a way to drive back to his place without a problem.

Mai sighed at all the cold white-ness, her favorite blue sweatshirt and jeans didn't seem to be warm enough. All she wanted now was the warm sun and to see green grass but that won't happen till late February or early March. 'I wonder what summer would be like with Naru… would he go to the beach? What would he look like in a bathing suit?' She thought absently but images of Naru in a towel swam through her thoughts. His smooth chest and wet hair. The way his strong arms held her… and his lips, kissing her neck. 'Okay! So maybe I don't have to wonder!' Mai blushing profusely turned her head away from the window.

"That weather man better be right." She grumbled. Naru had said yesterday that they weren't going to her place any time this week until the snow was off the roads. If that was the case then she was stuck, cooped up with him and their strange relation ship.

'If it were just about the… um shower incident than it wouldn't be so bad but since yesterday he's been more guarded and tense.' She thought back to the day before. 'Was it something Lin or I said…?'

~ Flash Back ~

…_And when I was in that place I could hear you talking before I woke up." She finished glancing at the two men. "Well?"_

_Lin had paused and said nothing for a while before he glanced at Naru, who had also gone into deep thought, was holding his chin in his hand. Mai gripped the sides of her long sleeve T-shirt tightly in her hands. Her eyes flicker between the two, not focusing on one for even more that a minute or two before glancing at the other._

"_Are you telling us everything?" Naru asked accusingly. Lin also didn't look convinced either but he said nothing and kept typing._

_Mai nodded unsure about what he was getting at – she had told them about the apartment and her dream with the beast in it but what more was there?_

"_Mai, from what I remember, you were in considerable pain but you said nothing about that." Naru's tone was dead serious. "The beast must have attacked you in your dream but you didn't meant anything about that."_

"_I guess I didn't notice because, oh well I don't know – A giant blood thirsts dog form Hell was after me." Mai replied sarcastically sending him an unappreciative glare._

"_I would be nice if you took this seriously, Mai. You were harmed, weather or not it was in your dream or it happens for real. Someone might be trying to target you and we need to find out who." Naru glared back, his eyes burned with fury but were icy cold, which not only surprised Mai but Lin too. Neither of them had seen their boss this mad since he was possessed by the one of the spirits controlled by the okobu*._

_Mai sat quietly for a few moments, unsure how to respond. "You think some one is trying to target me of something?" she asked nervously, not because of the idea of who was out to hurt her but how angry Naru was getting. _

"_I'm glad to see that it's sinking in." Naru got up and walked to the window, each step was sharp and somewhat forceful._

"_But why? Why would any one want to get rid of me?" She watched him wearily._

"_Mai you are dumber than I thought you were. Isn't it obvious? It's because of your abilities. You are able to experience the pasts of people who have passed on, through your dreams." He continued to gaze out of the window as he spoke. "Not to mention your gut – which some how is amazingly accurate about who is innocent and who is guilty."_

"_Okay but what did they do curse me or something?" Mai asked skeptically. Naru turned around to face her._

"_That is a distinct possibility."_

"_When calling upon curses people commonly use beasts from the underworld to torment their victims." Lin added. "Hell hounds usually represent the hatred of the caster. From what you told us this person is dangerous."_

"_Can you tell us of any enemies you might have?" Naru asked her directly._

~ End Flash Back ~

"Do I have any enemies?" she asked aloud. "Psh! As if I'd know."

Mai got up and stretched her hands to the ceiling before she walked over to the small Christmas tree she and Lin had set up together. Admiring the simple lights and ornaments with a smile it had amazed Mai how easy going Lin actually was compared to how she had seen him when they worked. 'I guess he's just a nice guy, quiet and some what emotionless, but nice.' She thought with a smile picking up a blue wrapped present with a silver bow tied on top.

The blue paper was neatly folded around a book she had bought and the silver bow around it was absolutely perfect. Mai did her best not to mess up when she wrapped the paper around the book and especially where the tape was placed too, so that it wouldn't tear the cover. And the reason for all of this caution was of course for one person, Kazuya Shibuya.

Thinking of what she was going to get him was a little difficult because he didn't seem to have any hobbies, except for work which basically involved him reading a lot of books, so that was what she had decided on. This book however was an old book that she was sure he hadn't read before. Japanese Stories of the Supernatural by Lafcadio Hearn* who was originally from the United Kingdom before he move to the United States and then to Japan. While he was in Japan he traveled around and collected up ghost stories from the locals and wrote them out.

'I'm sure he'll enjoy this and I think I'll borrow this after he's finished.' Mai thought, a smile playing at her lips as she placed the gift back under the tree. Standing back up she was about to go to the kitchen to fix lunch when she caught sight of Naru leaning casually against the wall. "Naru…?"

"Yes, Mai?" he relied, his beep blue eyes seemed to smile.

"How long have you been there?" Mai eyed him suspiciously when she took a few steps toward him.

"Why? Was I bothering you?" He replied dodging the question easily.

"I'm sure you'd like to think that." She grumbled, looking away as she crossed her arms over her chest.

But Naru ignored her and looked passed her to the tree and then to the small pile of presents that were arranged below it. "What are those?" Naru asked stepping away from the wall.

Mai looked back to him and then followed his gaze to the presents. "Oh! Those are for us. You know from Monk, Ayako, John, Madoka and Lin!" She couldn't help but smile then, Naru's eyes displayed a curious interest and a small sparkle of happiness.

* * *

Naru looked into the light brown eyes of his favorite assistant, her smile reached her sparkling eyes. Just seeing it made a smile formed slightly on his lips. Mai then grabbed his hand and pulled him down to the floor right next to the small tree. "Mai what are you…?" he asked surprised by his assistant's impulsiveness but settled down when he saw the blue wrapped gift that she held out for him.

"Here Naru! This one is from me, go ahead and open it!" she told him. Naru moved to sit into a more comfortable position before he took the gift in his hands.

The raven-haired teen moved his slender fingers to the silver ribbon and untied it easily with one swift movement before he removed the paper, uncovering a rather old looking book. "Japanese Stories of the Supernatural." Naru read loud, opening the cover and skimmed the first page or two.

"Have you read it before?" Mai ask eagerly as she leaned closer to him but he almost didn't notice.

"No, where did you find it?" He asked vaguely, flipping through the book reading the descriptions of the different stories.

"There's this little hole in the wall place I usually pass by on my way to school. I've only been in it a few times but I had noticed they had a lot of books on the super natural, ghost stories, and stuff."

Naru nodded closed the book slowly turning to face Mai, who was sitting next to him. For a moment he studied her features, the emotions coming from her were easy enough to read. Happy on the surface but unsure underneath, he knew already that their little encounter in front of the bathroom was the cause. But what he wanted to know why she ran, did she not expect him to do that? Or was that she wasn't interested at all? Though the last one was a really pointless question – who wouldn't be interested in him.

'Stop thinking about you and focus on Mai, she is who you want.' He thought correcting himself. 'I should also stop asking myself these questions too, it'll make me mental.'

"Mai, what's bothering you?" he finally asked after what seemed like long silence. Mai just stared at him for a moment, somewhat stunned. Before she shook herself out of it and tried to answer.

"Nothing, I was just thinking about…" Mai trailed off, as she looked away, a stray strand of her brown hair fell into her face.

He leaned forward and tucked the soft strand behind her ear, making her face him. "Thinking about what, to be exact?" he asked, his voice calm and soothing.

The brunette sighed and looked to his face, her eyes were sad. "About you." She replied.

"Was I wrong then Mai, to kiss you." Naru didn't mean for it to happen but the question, which was more of a statement, just, slipped through his lips. He looked away from her, the angel that had somehow caught his affection.

"No! Naru don't think like that!" Mai exclaimed, her voice was almost panicked. "You weren't wrong Naru, in fact you're always right. Even when it's really annoying sometimes, you are still right! I… was the one who was wrong, to run away."

Mai took his hand but lowered her head in shame, hiding her eyes from his. Naru at this point had dropped his usually well concealed mask, his slender fingers moved to intertwine themselves with hers. "Mai… I wasn't.." he tried come up with the words to say to that but his mind came up blank. Though Mai putting a finger to his lips saved him from having to say anything.

"Naru, I want to say this before anything else happens." She looked back up into his eyes, courage and determination driving her words. "I don't want you to think I ran from you because I don't like you – that isn't true. In fact it's the farthest from it. Every time Masako throws her self at you or Ayako tries to ask you out… I get so jealous I don't know what to do with myself but what I want you to know is… is that I really – "

Those were the words he had been waiting for, but as Mai was about to finish, a loud crash came through the window. A rather large rock flew past their faces and before he even knew what was happening, glass shards flew every where as rocks began to hit the floor. That was when both Mai and Naru let go of each others hands and ducked on instinct, covering their heads with their arms. But today fortune didn't seem to favor one of them as much as the other. Naru heard Mai cry out in pain, as several rocks seemed to find their intended target.

"Mai!" Naru called out to her but when he moved to protect her, a rock came sailing through the window colliding with his head, hitting his temple. "Mai…" his vision began to go black as he hit the floor, the last thing he heard was Mai calling his name.

* * *

Lin was at home relaxing on his some what plush gray sofa drinking some of the tea that Mai had given him as a gift. It was an interesting blend that he hadn't had in quite a while*, maybe he should ask her for the place that she get's it from. That aside his place hadn't been quite in a long time, particularly with Madoka around. She had been trying to get him to teach her how to cook, but things weren't turning out so well but she always found a way to make him smile.

Today though, Madoka had to leave on business out of town and now the silence was starting to get to him. 'It's almost eerie, like a calm be fore a storm.' He thought placing the cup down on a small side table. The silence was ominous and he didn't like it, even his shiki were on edge. 'Maybe I should call Naru, if he's with Mai, they might be the center of this.'

Taking his phone out from his jean pocket, the tall onmyo-ji decided to send one of his shiki check on his charge. Lin hit his speed dial for Naru's cell, for a while it didn't seem like any one would pick up but before he hung up to try the house phone, a voice came on. "Hello?"

This voice was not Kazuya Shibuya. "Who is this? And where is Kazuya Shibuya?" Lin demanded, his voice stern.

"I'm a Doctor Kurosaki and Mr. Shibuya is in the ER currently. Are you a family member, friend or guardian sir?" the male voice asked.

Lin smacked his fore head. 'God damn it! Naru, when I get my hands on you, the professor won't even compare to what I'm going to do to you!' he thought angrily, loosing almost all of his composure as he grabbed his coat and head out the door to his car. Then the thought hit him and stopped him dead in his tracks. The thought was one which he never wanted to think of or even consider. 'If he's in the ER than…'

"Dr. Kurosaki, correct? I am Lin Koujo, Kazuya's guardian." Lin told the man slowly.

"Yes, then I'll inform you of our location and what floor you can find Mr. Shibuya." The man answered, though he sounded distracted as he began to spout out information. All of it was easy enough for him to remember with out needing to write it down.

After the man was done speaking the tall Chinese man finally asked the dreaded question. "Was there a girl with him? She would have been short, petite with brown hair and brown eyes."

Lin was really hoping that nothing had happened to her, if it did than he was 1) really going to beat Naru with in an inch of his life, 2) have to deal with an angry boss for the following weeks and then 3) deal with an extreme guilt ridden Naru who wouldn't ever look someone straight in the eye, especially Mai for a few months.

"Um I'm sorry sir but, he was the only one called in." By this time Lin was in his car and the keys were in the ignition.

To him that was never a good sign, if Mai was missing, something had really gone wrong. "I'll be there in a few minutes, thank you." With that Lin snapped his cell phone shut and speed out of the parking lot and made his way to the hospital.

* * *

'My head feels like it's going to explode!' Mai thought in anguish as she slowly opened her eyes, great full at first that the room she was in was only lit by candles and not any thing florescent. The light was dim but she could still see the colors of the walls and some of the furniture. The room was painted a dark red and most of what she saw was black every where else such as the closed curtains, the small rug that barely cover any of the wood floor, and the clothe that cover the table was also black.

Though those things didn't freak her out like the other knickknacks that were on the book shelves and tables. There were skulls of animals and several jars of what looked like the animals' body parts preserved in formaldehyde on the book shelves near a desk covered with old books, but just seeing those disgusting things in the jars sent shivers up her spine.

'Great gods Mai, how do you end up in these places!' the brown haired teen thought as she began to move her hand up to her aching head but than realized that she had been tied to a chair and her hands had been handcuffed together. "What the…?" she mutter, trying to loosen the ropes a little with her arms but those too were rather sore but instead of giving up she continued, wanting to do anything to get out and go back to Naru. 'I hope Naru's okay! As long as he's okay I'll be fine too…'

"How cute." An amused feminine voice said from across the room. "Don't you know it's useless to struggle dear?"

Mai glared in the woman's general direction. 'How can this be amusing to any one? Well at least she didn't duct tape my mouth closed.' She thought slightly annoyed. "Who are you?" Mai called out to the woman. "And where's Kazuya?"

"Oh dear, you don' remember me do you Mai?" she said stepping toward Mai, her heels clicked against the wood floor. "Well I suppose that's just a little disappointing, I was hoping that you would have but no matter. I guess I should let you know about you little boyfriend, shouldn't I?" The woman stopped just close enough for Mai to she her body the her face was still hidden in shadow. She was wearing a Gothic looking black dress that had a split up the thigh and high heeled boots that laced up to her knees.

"Where is he!?" Mai demanded, this was just something she wasn't going to back down on.

"He's not here, in fact he's probably with that tall fellow you work with. What was his name again? Kin, Gin something or another?" the woman giggled.

Mai could tell now that she was just toying with her, but at least Naru was with Lin, that probably meant that he was alright. She breathed a small sigh of relief, but now she had to worry about her self and what this woman was going to do to her. "Excuse me but I don't know what I did to upset you but if you told me maybe we could work this out." Hopefully she could reason this woman into letting her go.

"Oh no, I afraid that won't be possible Mai. You ruined my life and I'm not letting you get away scott free." The woman said darkly as she finally stepped wholly into Mai's view.

Mai's amber brown eye's widened in shock. "Ms. Ubusuna?! I… I thought.."

"Yes, but in reality you didn't think and that was not only yours, but also your boss's, mistake." Ms. Ubusana told Mai darkly, her smile sinister and her eyes filled with resentment and anger. "But don't worry, after I'm done with you, I am sure he'll learn his lesson."

* * *

_Everything around him was dark. "Where am I?" Naru asked aloud but no one answered. _

"_Hello?… Mai, are you there?" he called out moment later but still not answer but this time Mai materialized before him. "Mai…?"_

"_Naru, I really – " she began. _

"_What Mai? You really what?" he asked her but she couldn't answer. Rocks seemed to fly out of no where, hitting Mai. She screamed in pain, tears poured from her beautiful brown eye, and blood began to stain her clothing as the rocks began to create small cuts across her skin. "No! Mai!" he screamed, reaching out to her but some how he couldn't move. All he could do was watch in agony, unable to save her as she was pelted to death. _

"Mai!" Naru jutted into sitting position as he looked wildly around himself, finding that Mai wasn't there and that he was in the hospital.

"Naru, calm down." Lin told him as he placed a hand on Naru's shoulder.

Relaxing a little he took a deep breath and looked directly into his assistant's eyes. "Lin, how long have I been out and where is Mai?" he demanded.

Lin's composure faulted a little but he never looked away from his charge. "You've been out since yesterday afternoon."

"What about Mai?" Naru asked again, ignoring the headache that was beginning to pound on the inside of his brain.

"She' been kidnapped." Lin answered reluctantly as he pulled out a sheet of paper. "I found this note when I went back to your apartment."

Naru took it from the man's hands, reading the words of the letter in disbelief.

_"I have your precious girl. You don't have a lot of time to find her, so I would hurry if I were you. If your lucky she might still be sane when you find her."_

"Damn it!" Naru crumpled the paper in his fist and threw back the cover's on his bed. Quickly Naru dressed in his clothes from the day before and stormed out of the hospital room with Lin at his heels.

* * *

***okay do you all remember the god that Naru blasted to hell, well yeah that's the okobu ;D**

***the book Naru got is an actual book and i didn't make it up, but i think i'll actually try to get a copy for myself - it had good reviews :)  
**

***the tea Mai gave Lin was a special blend that originated from Hong Kong, he used to drink it a lot when he played poker.  
**

**Ha! i bet you didn't see that coming! hahahaha!! **

**(Ahem) anyway, Thank you so much for waiting patiently!!! you all are awesome XD but i want to give a special thanks to** **twighlightangel61090 for keeping me on track. ^_^ i love you guys for reviewing because it always makes me happy when i see how much you love my story. **** thanks again and please review like you always do. **


	18. Myoga's Sasshi Tenpo

Hey everyone! sorry for making you all wait so long but here it is!

Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt or any of it's fantastic characters!

Please R&R!

* * *

Saturday, December 26

Lin watched Naru as he paced furiously across the floor of where their current misfortune began Mai's apartment. The tall, handsome, and of course incredibly talented Chinese man knew already where his co-worker lived because he often picked her up before trips but he had never been inside the girl's home.

The inside though didn't really surprise him because it just fit Mai so well. The walls were painted with bright colors and had furniture to match it, the little nick-knacks placed in random places were of cute little animals that smiled and then there were some photos placed on one of the side tables. All of these things made both him and Naru seem really out of place in their serious clothing, but it was worse in Lin's part because he's head almost touched the ceiling, which made him uncomfortable.

Though as he sat down on her couch in the small living space, he felt even more out of place. 'I should just focus on the case.' He thought to himself, looking around for clues that the attacker may have left behind like trace of their chi. Lin closed his eyes and breathed deeply, and straightened his back as he began taking in the energy of the surrounding area. Naru's chi was burning just as furiously as he was pacing, so much that it was hard to tell what other traces there was of any at all. "Naru, could you please calm down for a moment." He ordered his charge.

Lin instantly felt Naru's fierce glare turn on him. "You want me to calm down? Why the hell should I? Mai is out there some where with a lunatic prepared to torture her. If we don't find her…!" the tall raven-haired teen was to angry to even finish his sentence.

"I won't be able to find her or the culprit if your chi is this out of control. So either wait outside in the cold or calm down and control yourself." Lin told him opening his eyes and meeting the teen's intense glare with out hesitation. Naru sighed and took a few deep breaths to calm himself.

Now that that was over with Lin began again, closing his eyes and breathing deeply. Naru's chi was down to a small hum, he could pick up Mai's chi and the energy of something else.

If he were to visualize the chi Naru's would be blue and Mai's would be a sparkly light blue but there was another, which had worked it's way around the apartment that was deep purple. Lin's shiki seemed to recognize this as the same chi that was around Naru's apartment as well. 'Try to find the origin.' He silently ordered two of his shiki. 'And come back the moment that you know where it is.'

Lin sighed, opening his eyes, he noticed Naru wasn't in the room. 'He must be looking around…' his thoughts paused for a moment. 'I really hope he isn't in her room*…' he shook his as if trying to rid himself of the awkward images flowing across the forefront of his mind. "Damn the influence of that stupid Monk." He cursed under breath.

~ Some where on the other side of the city ~

"Achoo!"

"Hey, Monk are you sick or something." Ayako asked from the couch.

"No, I'm fine but I seriously can't find that stupid movie you were talking about." He complained from where he was crouching by the TV.

"Maybe you're not looking hard enough." The red headed woman told him dully examining her nails.

Monk rolled his eyes. 'Oh for Pete's sake!' he thought as he continued to rummage through the piles of movies.

~ Back to Mai's place ~

Naru was, in fact, in Mai's room but not doing what Lin had regrettably imagined him doing. He was examining the paper that Lin had given him in the hospital, the writing seemed familiar but he didn't know how. "Could it be some one's from… another case?" he muttered to him self bemused. Which was when the realization hit him. "Lin!"

Naru rushed to the small living room to where the onmyo-ji was sitting uncomfortably. "Lin we need to look at our past cases and cross reference this hand writing. I'm sure we've dealt with this person before." He told his assistant urgently.

Lin was already on his feet and both men were out the door, heading back to Lin's car. "I've sent my shiki out to search the area for the culprit and quite possibly Mai, but you think that we've dealt with this person before?"

Naru nodded, bulking his seat belt. "Mai wasn't the real target, we were but they must have seen her as way to get to us." He clenched his fists as he tried to keep his emotions under control. The usual mask he kept in place seemed to be cracking little by little. Naru huffed and looked out the window, the sun was going down. "Let's go back to the office and hurry we are running out of time."

* * *

"What are you going to do to me?" Mai asked the ex-school teacher, her head still pounded and she finally gave up struggling against her restraints. 'Come on Mai, now is the time not to freak out. She didn't have much power the first time so she couldn't have changed that much… well maybe her wardrobe.' Mai thought as she looked about the room for an exit. There was one door over to her far left next to another book case that was along the red painted walls. 'There it is! But… I wonder why this place seems familiar…'

Ms. Ubusuna had been moving around the room grabbing different bottles and jars, placing them on the desk Mai had seen earlier. Mai noticed that she kept kicking pieces or blue cloth around on the ground as she went back an d for Though the woman stopped when she heard Mai speak but ignored her and picked up a few vials and poured them in to a beaker. The young brunette swallowed and cleared her voice. "I said, What are you going to do to ME."

This time Mai received a glare. "Oh well, first I'm going to get rid of that nasty headache you must have." She answered Mai sweetly as she took out a syringe and pouring a clear liquid into it.

Mai cringed at the sight on the long needle. "Don't come near me!" she glared but her voice cracked betraying her.

Ms. Ubusuna just smiled and bent reaching for her thigh, pulling out a knife. She preceded to approach her and stopped next to Mai's left arm. She swiftly made a cut Mai's long sleeve shirt, that she had wore under her sweat shirt, not caring that the knife went deeper, breaking the small brunet's skin. Mai clenched her fists and tried not to show weakness because she knew that Naru what Naru would have done.

As the blood seeped out of the wound , whispered darkly into her ear as she stuck the needle roughly into her arm under the cut. "You may not have known this but I'm a minor in medicine. It was one of the things that got me my job but thanks to you and your little friends, I lost very thing. If you hadn't come along then those people would have just learned…" but Mai didn't hear the rest of it. Everything around her started to sway and her vision blurred, before she knew it Mai was once again surrounded by darkness.

"_Where am I?" She asked aloud, feeling heavy and sluggish. "Naru are you here?"_

_There was no answer. 'That's weird. He usually pops up with a big smile on his face.'_

_Time seemed to go effortlessly as she sat on the unseen ground, before she decided she should get up and figure out where she was. But as she moved to stand, a hand appeared suddenly before her, one in which she knew all to well. Grabbing it, she let him help her up on her feet. "Naru it's so great to see you!" she hugged him tightly before she stepped back to give him a smile, he was holding her hands lightly in hers. "I don't know what do. Ms. Ubusuna, the one who caused the Kasai panic, she back! And she has me tied up too. "She told him hoping that he would find a way to help her._

_But as she studied his face, the raven-haired teen in front of her just smiled. A fake smile and his dark blue eyes were blank with no emotion. "Naru… What's wrong? Don't look at me like that." Mai pulled her hands away, stepping backward. _

"_Mai, I am truly sorry. Do I frighten you?" His voice was heavy, gruff and his form began to shift slightly. His chest grew broader, his hair longer, his eyes darker and his face contorted into an animal shape close enough to be called wolfish. _

'_This isn't…! Naru's turning into a monster!' Her thoughts screamed, alarmed she back away from him as quickly as she could but out of her own clumsiness tripped on her own feet, falling backwards onto her butt. The beastly thing in front of her reached behind it's back pulling out a gun. _

_Now Mai didn't even bother looking back as she pushed herself hastily off the almost none existent ground. Now all she could do was run as fast as she could into the unknown expansion of darkness. _

_Behind her, she could hear his feet pounding hard against the ground as he chased her matching the beating of her heart. 'This is crazy! How could something like this hap –' a piercing pain cut off Mai's frightened thoughts just as she heard the shot come from behind her. The force of the bullet sent her careening to the ground. "Shit." Mai cursed under her breath as she tried to sit up, but pain radiated through her left side making it an impossible task. She moved her hand to touch her side and then brought her hand up to the level of her eyes, seeing her hand covered in red. 'Blood!' Mai's thoughts reeled. 'He shot me, he really shot me.' _

"_It's too late for you." The wolfish monster growled lowly, approaching her. He dropped the gun and was now flexing his claw like hands, licking his ugly muzzle._

"_No! Get away form me!" She screamed trying to find away to move, as new wave of adrenaline pumped through her veins. _

"_Mai, don't run away." Naru suddenly called out to her. _

"_What? Naru?" Mai spun around. He was right were that monster had been, his eyes were shining and his smile was light. Suddenly everything that was going on stopped, what ever frightened her disappeared._

"_Mai let me help you, you're hurt." He said walking over to her._

_Mai didn't feel right, something was missing and she couldn't tell what. "Naru it's dangerous here. Forget about my injury and let's get out of here!" she told him sitting up, cursing at the pain. At that point he was right next to her bending down on his knees, using his hands to support her back and shoulders. _

"_No, every thing looks fine to me. I see no danger." He replied, lying her back down. "Let's patch up that wound."_

_Mai noticed how lustfully he was staring at her when he said that and how he licked his bottom lip. The feeling of unease grew greater. His hands moved to her side lifting up her blue blood stained shirt, just enough to see the wound where the blood was still freely flowing. "This looks deep and the bullet might still be inside you." He told her as his finger traced the outside of the wound slowly._

_She looked at his eyes, shocked to see how hungry they were and that they were turning a deep red. Mai pushed away his hands fearfully. "Stop!" Her voice shook. "Stop using Naru's face. Stop using his voice!"_

_The monster smiled and spoke gruffly. "If you loved him that much you should have said so. Maybe if I kill you slowly, I can get him as well." _

* * *

The icy roads made it difficult for them to drive through and the sun was almost out of sight. Lin, a usually flawless driver, was struggling to make his car power through the snow.

"Lin can't you go any faster?" Naru complained crossing his arm irritably.

Lin glared at his young boss, this was the sixth time he had asked that same question within the last twenty minutes. "The car can't go any fast than it is, if you're so concerned than why don't you just remove all the snow?" He snapped.

"That can be arranged." The raven-haired teen replied, unbuckling his seat belt.

Lin grabbed his arm away from the door. "Are you stupid? Collapsing and then freezing to death is not going to help Mai." The tall Chinese man reached behind him and pulled out a book the doctor gave him at the hospital. "Here, Dr. Kurosaki said that you were holding this when you were brought in. They had to pry it from your hands." He handed it to Naru and watched him carefully.

Naru's expression as he took the book turn from agitation to shock. His dark blue eyes widened and his mouth parted slightly. "Lin, pull over." Naru said turning his head towards Lin, the look in his eyes sharpened. "I know where she is. I don't know how but I know where Mai his."

Lin studied his charge. Everything about him, his body language, his face, his eyes, was certain. "Alright." He replied and began to pull up to the curb. This was of course after he had let go of Naru's arm, which was a mistake to say the least. Before Lin even realized it Naru had flung open the car door and jumped out. "Naru, Damn it! Get back here!" He yelled half out on his car.

He watched uselessly as Naru sprinting down the street open street. Lin pulled both of the doors closed and parked the car before he took off after his charge. 'When I get my hands on him… Damn that idiot!' Lin thought furiously as he sprinted off following Naru's fading footprints.

* * *

The wind blew though his dark hair, the cold air filled his lungs and the snow crunched under his shoes as he ran. The moment Lin had handed him that book he knew with out a doubt that she was there. Though there was nothing but his gut feeling telling him this, he knew it was right and that he needed to find Mai.

Naru took a sharp right and found a small shopping district. No one was out walking and almost all of the shops were closed and the ones that were still open were in the middle of closing. "Hey!" he called out to an old man who was bringing in a sign. Naru ran over to him, panting. "Is there a book store near here?"

The old man frown at him but pointed down the street. "Yes there is sonny. It's about four stores down on the left."

Naru nodded and thanked the man before running off again. "Sonny it's a little cold out to be running and that place is closed!" The old man called after him. "Strange kid."

However, Naru didn't hear him nor did he care. He ran down the street as the old man had told him, straight to the bookshop, *Myoga's Sasshi Tenpo. The place was small and easy to miss if you weren't looking for it and the only thing that stood out a little was the window display which had a small collection of supernatural stories set up. 'Most likely why Mai choose this place. This person must have done it to lure her in.' He took note as he walked to the door.

Pushing it in he half expected it to open, as stupid as that assumption was. 'Ugh, Mai must be rubbing off on me.' He thought still panting slightly from his sprint, but smirking none the less at the thought. Naru bent down in front of the lock and focused a small bit of energy through his hand into the lock mechanism, breaking it easily. Now he wasted no time pushing the door open and running inside.

Like most bookstores there were books everywhere, neatly put on shelves or stacked on tables, but there was too much dust here for someone to have had this shop open for long. The olive green paint on the walls was chipping and the floor was in desperate need of refinishing. Naru figured if anyone was to be hidden in a place like this than it had to be a back room of some kind. As he began searching for a back room of some kind as he walked between the bookcases quietly, making sure every step was noiseless. Off to one side he noticed an open office door were a small light was on. Cautiously, Naru pushed it open.

The room was medium sized and the walls were painted a deep red, drastically different from the rest of the store. Looking around he stepped in side, immediately noticing that one wall was completely covered in photographs. Upon closer inspection of the wall he found that there were mostly pictures of Mai, Lin, himself and of the office building. 'How long had she been stalking us?' he wondered before examining the desk near the far side of the room. 'A brush, broken teacup and a stained tie… this brush was from Mai's apartment and the rest was our garbage. This is defiantly the place.'

His thoughts than turned to the more important matter at hand, which made his heart ache. 'Now all I need to do is find Mai, hopefully I'm not to late.'

Suddenly Naru heard a scream come from behind him. Spinning around Naru saw the door marked storage and tried the handle before the young CEO decided to just kick it down. When he burst in to the room the scene in front of him was one of horror. Mai was tied to a chair, blood dripping from a cut on her forehead down her pained face and on her arm was a large gash. Her side was becoming soaked from the blood that flooded from her wound. In front of Mai was a woman holding a gun in her hand, the entire site made his blood go cold.

"Mai!" he exclaimed about to rush over but stopped when the woman turned around pointing the gun at him.

"Oh! Mr. Shibuya, you're here is see." She said with a smile. "You got here a little faster than I expected. Maybe I should reintroduce my self like I did for your little assistant."

"I already know who you are Ubusuna. What did you do to Mai?" he growled, hatred drenched his every word.

The woman moved behind Mai and wrapped an arm around the unconscious girl's shoulders and kept the gun pointed at him. "It was just a little sedative I mixed with some black magic, it's not entirely harm full unless I inflict actual physical pain to her body."

Naru glared at her with rage. "Don't touch her or I'll – "

"Or you'll what? You see, Mr. Shibuya, if you try to do anything I'll put another hole through her. With her current state I don't think any more blood loss will help much. Not to mention how mentally taxing this must be, you see with a little black magic you can conjure up the most horrific nightmares." Ms. Ubusuna frowned at him for a moment before the sick smile returned to her face.

"Why are you even doing this? Just let her go." Naru needed to do something if Mai was going to live. He wouldn't be able to bear it if she were to die, just seeing her in this present condition brought him physical pain. 'I love her and I'll be damned if I let a witch like her take Mai away from me. Now there doesn't seem to be any other choice right now than to use my 'unique abilities.' I hope Lin has enough sense to call an ambulance before he comes rushing in here.' His sapphire eyes glanced between the tormentor and his favorite assistant, judging what damage would done if he did what he was about to do.

Ms. Ubusuna kept the gun steady as she reached down her thigh pulling out a small dagger. "You see the best way to drive someone to insanity is fear and who better to do that then the one she loves the most." Ms. Ubusuna bent down to Mai's ear, holding the knife to her cheek. "I wish you were as easy to manipulate now as you are in her dreams."

"Let her go, there is no reason for you to be doing this." Naru told her, his patience was beginning to wan. "If you stop now then they would only charge you for kidnapping."

The black clad woman glared at him. "Charged? You think I'm going to get charged? Don't make me laugh or my hand might accidentally slip." She told him darkly pressing the knife into Mai's cheek, drawing blood.

"Stop!" His yell was strained. 'It's now or never I have to stop this!' Naru began to gather the energy around him, he could feel the static in the air now as it began to hum. He focused his mental energy on the knife, pulling it away from Mai.

Ms. Ubusuna struggled against his pull but the knife go and he sent flying into the wall. "What are you doing? Stop, stop it right now!" she yelled at him covering her ears as they began to ring, looking wildly about for away to escape but Naru was already blocking the only door.

"No can do. Maybe if you had stopped earlier I would but you lost your chance." He replied coldly. As he lifted his right hand, condensing the energy in to his palm, forming a small ball. It's burning yellow glow reflected in his eyes like fire as he sent it sailing through the air towards his target.

* * *

Lin huffed as he made the right down the street where the shops were closed. He immediately spotted the same old man Naru had just out side his shop door, flipping the closed sign. "Hey!"

The old man looked up and nodded a greeting to Lin when he came running up. "Good evening sir, I'm sorry but we're closed for the day."

"That's not – never mind." Lin panted. "Did you see kid dress in black come by here?"

The old man nodded and wiped the snow off his gray mustache. "Yes, I saw that boy. He's a fool. Running around this time of night in the middle of winter. In my day, young people would be at home with their family cleaning up dinner."

"Sir, not to be rude but I really need to find him. Where did he go?" Lin asked glancing at the snow falling heavily from the darkening sky, the sun was just a small orange slit on the edge of the horizon.

"Yes, yes you do. If any one is running around they'll catch a cold or slip on the ice. I remember when I was a lad. My brother decided that he'd be a fool and streak through the streets on new years. It was one of the coldest days recorded in history and my brother ended up in the hospital with the flu. I also –"

Lin really couldn't believe that he was in this situation when Naru and Mai could be dying and this old man is wasting his time. He looked directly at the old man and clasped him on the shoulders. "Where did the kid go?" he asked forcibly.

"Down the street, four stores down on the left. To that old book shop, don't know why though the place has been closed of the past two months." The old man told him a little taken back by Lin's urgency. 'Young people have no patience.' He thought as he once again watched a young person sprint down the street.

Lin pulled out his cell when he found the door already open and dialed 911.

"Hello this is 911. What is your emergency?" a female voice asked him.

"I'm at Myoga's Sasshi Tenpo, I need paramedics here immediately. There are two teenagers in critical condition."

"Alright, there are paramedics and police are on their way. Do need me to stay on the line?" she asked.

"No thank you." Lin hung up and entered the book store. He knew right away that things had gone wrong when he heard an explosion from the back. 'Damn, Naru when will you learn to think!' Lin thought running to the the source. 'I hope I'm not too late.'

* * *

*Okay, Monk is rubbing off a little on Lin, hey who could blame him? Naru was in Mai's room alone doing who knows what ;) but our lil' Naru is too much of a gentleman for that.

*Myoga's Sasshi Tenpo - yes, I am making a reference to Inu Yasha (i was watching it recently and i couldn't help my self). any way for those who don't know who Myoga is, he is a flee. Sasshi Tenpo - is book store, so Flee the Book Store. knowing Mai, she would has over looked this hidden warning but I digress.

Thank you all again for waiting for me, for some reason it took me forever to get this chapter done. only 1 or 2 more chapters left! i really hope you enjoyed it so let me know what you think in the reviews! i'll update sooner than i have before because school is over! XD WHOOOO! YEAH SUMMER!


	19. I love you!

Hey everyone! i hope you didn't wait too long, so here's chapter 19! XD

Disclaimer: I don't own Ghost Hunt or any of it's characters! just the OCs that i created.

Please R&R!

* * *

Sunday, January 3

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

'_What is that annoying sound?'_

_Beep…_

'_There it is again… go away.'_

'_Mai?'_

_She opened her eyes to not the dark expanse of her usual nightmares but the bright and cheerful place that seemed to make everything sparkle. This was the place she knew was safe and it was also the place where her dream Naru would tell her everything was safe or things would be fine. Though when she looked to his face he wasn't smiling. "Naru?" she met his deep blue eyes but not before she could see the look of shame that burdened his handsome face. _

"_I am truly sorry Mai. I hurt you." He told her, his dark hair fell into his eyes. At first she couldn't remember what he was referring to but slowly all the memories came rushing forward. Ms. Ubusana kidnapping her, him changing into a terrible monster and her getting shot…the blood, her blood… it all felt painful but she knew that it wasn't him. He had been controlled, manipulated into doing those things to her._

_Mai smile warmly at and touched his face with her hand so that he would look at her. "That wasn't you. I know it wasn't, so don't worry. You are more handsome when you smile" She said kindly, giving him a reassuring pat on the shoulder, like she saw Monk do when John or Yasu were feeling down._

"_Thank you, Mai and I think he'll tell you the truth… soon I think. You should get going, there are people waiting to see you." Dream Naru said with a smile, fading away before she could ask him what he meant._

_Beep…_

_Beep…_

Beep…

Mai slowly open her amber brown eyes as the annoying beeping sound became louder and more pronounced. As her eyes adjusted to the brightness of white that was the entire room. It felt like her body hadn't moved in such a long time, leaving her muscles weak from being unused.

She then began to wonder how long it had been since she had something to drink, never in her life had her mouth been so dry. 'Maybe this is why they always keep water at the ready in hospitals…' she thought dryly turning her head to the right finding the source of the annoying beeping sound but no water. 'A heart monitor? Well yeah, duh Mai. You are in a hospital.'

Weak and drained as Mai felt, she some how found energy to sit her self up. Which was only made harder by the IV line in her arm, the oxygen tube on her face and the pain that seemed to manifest out of no where, along with a few other things but what she saw when she was finally sitting up made it all worth the trouble. Before her were the eight people who she had come to think of as her family.

In one corner of the room Ayako was sleeping tucked under Monk's arm resting against his chest. He, himself, had fallen a sleep with his head resting on top of hers. Next to them was Yasu, John and Masako, the trio had some how ended with Masako slumped on a small couch with both John and Yasu resting on either side with their heads on her shoulders. It really made Mai want to giggle at how cute it was but her throat was so dry that all she could do was smile. 'If only I had a camera…' she thought as she continued to study the others, hoping to keep these images imprinted in her memory.

The next couple however kind of surprised her but she was glad to see Lin looking so happy. He wasn't asleep but completely absorb in whatever he was typing on his laptop, yet to notice that she had woken up. Beside him and probably the source of the brilliant smile that graced his handsome face, was Madoka. She was sleeping peacefully with her arms wrapped around his arm and using his shoulder as a pillow. But because he most likely felt her gaze, Lin looked up meeting her amber brown with his dark tired eyes. "Mai…?" he whispered in surprise.

She shook her head weakly and placed a single finger to her dry lips to tell him not to wake anyone just for a moment longer. Lin gave her a worried look but he understood. "You have less than three minutes." He whispered as he looked over at the others and then Naru, who she had been saving for last.

Naru, out of all of them was actually sleeping at the end of her hospital bed. His features were stiff from sleeping in the chair he was in for too long and a frown was set on his lips. Lying on the bed next to one of his hands was a book that, as she leaned a little closer discovered it was his Christmas from her. Weary as she was Mai leaned forward a little and grabbed one of his out stretched hands, tugging it lightly to wake him up.

The black clad teen slowly opened his deep blue eyes and blinked. He looked as drop dead gorgeous as ever. "Mai…" Naru looked at her breathlessly as if he couldn't believe that she was real. The sincere surprise that she saw in his eyes made her wish that this moment could have been frozen in time, only thing she could manage to do to answer him was to smile and nod.

He moved swiftly and gracefully from his seat and before Mai could process it he wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly in his embrace. As he held her to his chest she could feel the soft cotton of his black button up shirt against her face. She breathed in his scent, smelling his light cologne as well as the under lying scent of tea. After a moment he held himself arms distance away, holding her shoulders gently, examining her. "Mai don't ever do that again." His voice was almost angry but it was if he couldn't bring himself to actually scold her. "Do you understand? You almost died."

The look in his eyes… the emotions of mixed anxiety and relief made her wonder if there was ever a time when he had actually been this upset over her. "Water?" she asked her voice was raspy and dry. Without hesitation he took a glass of water from the bedside table and a straw. He held it up for her to drink some, the spread of relief spread over his features and his cool collected mask began to return as well.

'Was he really that worried? How long have I been out?' she thought as she sipped the water. The cold liquid was refreshing and made her feel so much better as it dehydrated her dry mouth and throat. "Thanks Naru." She said smiling weakly as she tried to keep sitting up but do to a sudden wave of exhaustion she leaned forward to rest her head on his shoulder.

She heard the clank of the glass on the table as he placed it back in it's original spot. Naru grabbed another pillow from another chair and placed it behind her. "You need to rest." He ordered coolly glancing at the other sleeping (excluding Lin) members of SPR.

"But Naru, I want to talk to them!" She used her puppy dog-face, he just stared back at her blankly.

After a moment he sighed admitting defeat, she couldn't stop the grin from spreading across her face. "But not for too long." He sounded like a parent letting a kid stay up past their bed time, except he wasn't smiling. Naru nodded to Lin who in turn nudged Madoka. "Madoka." Lin said quietly into the pink haired woman's ear.

"Hmmm… is it Mai?" she asked sleepily snuggling closer to him causing him to blush lightly making Mai giggle. Had she ever seen the ever stoic Lin blush before?

"Yes." He said quickly looking away so that his hair covered his face.

Madoka on the other hand shot up fully awake almost hitting Lin in the face with her head. She immediately rushed to Mai's unoccupied side. "Mai! I'm so glad you are finally wake!" she exclaimed pulling the young brunette into a hug.

"Madoka – I can't – breathe!" Mai gasped trying to break free of the woman's tight hold on her.

"Oh I am so sorry! I didn't hurt you did I? The stitches and bandages didn't come off?" The pink haired woman fretted. Pretending that that hug didn't just hurt like hell, Mai patted her arm and assured her that she was fine.

* * *

Naru had moved away from the group to make it easier for his co-workers to fret over Mai. He had walked to Lin and stood beside him. For a moment the tall Chinese man was quiet as they watched the others making sure that if things got to loud or it looked like it was much for Mai to handle he was prepared to kick them out. "You look relieved, Kazuya." Lin stated keeping his voice low so that the others wouldn't hear.

Naru glanced up at his bodyguard but looked away. It was hard to admit that that was true and what made it worse was the guilt that accompanied it. It was his fault that Mai was badly injured. "I thought that she wasn't going to make it." He said softly as he watch Ayako slap monk upside the head, vaguely wondering how many brain cells the man must have left. "I owe you an apology and my thanks."

He felt Lin's gaze on him for a moment or two as if he hadn't heard what Naru had said. 'Why is this always the reaction I get when I say that? It's not like I'm incapable of admitting when I'm wrong or apologizing. Lin used his quick thinking and strange medical skills to keep her from dying.' He thought back to the dark room at the book store and shook his head to rid him self of the memory but it was imprinted into his mind.

~ Flash back ~

_He sent the mass of energy flying at the witch making her collide with the wall of shelves behind her. Lin had already run over to the book-covered woman most likely to make sure she wouldn't run away. Naru already at Mai's side undoing her restraints but the blood coming from her wounds was getting on his hands and making them slip. "Damn it! Lin get over here!" he yelled already feeling the after affects of his powers._

"_Stand back. I'll take care of her, you are in no condition to help." Lin had pushed him aside moving mush faster as he undid her restraints. Carefully he laid her out, putting pressure on Mai's side wound. "On second thought… hold this to her side and keep pressure on." Lin ordered him handing over a piece of his shirt before ripping it up more so that he could stop the bleeding of the other cuts Mai had on her arms and the gash on her forehead. _

_Naru felt his chest pounding and he felt like he couldn't breath but he did as Lin told him. He stared at Mai's face, the face that's supposed to smile at him or blush when he teases her but instead her face was pale and pained. "Lin save Mai, please. Save her." He huffed as his vision started to darken around the edges._

_He tried to keep up right when her heard sirens in the distance but his vision went and he felt himself hit the floor. "Naru!" He heard Lin shout but everything shut off._

~ End Flash Back ~

Naru kept himself from shuddering at the memory, returning his mind to the present where he noticed Mai's enthusiasm beginning to fad. Pain began to edge into her eyes and her smile was becoming forced. "Lin go get the nurse, it time for everyone to leave." Naru motioned to the door with his head before walking to the group.

Clearing his voice the young CEO waited for them all to settle down. "Visiting hours are over and have been for about twenty minutes now, it's time for you all to leave." Naru said ignoring the 'But Naru!' s coming from Yasu, Monk and Madoka.

"Well he is right you guys and Mai needs her rest." Ayako gave the young woman a small wave and grabbed Bou-san by the arm as she headed to the door. "See you tomorrow, okay?" The red headed woman promised.

"Then I should take my leave as well. Mai, I have a fly to Nepal tomorrow so we can catch up when I get back." Masako smiled, a real smile this time and not a fake Naru noticed. 'Now that I think about it she hasn't asked me to go any where with her' he thought glancing at the medium, accidentally meeting her gray eyes. "Naru, may I have a word if you before I leave?" she asked from behind her sleeve.

'I spoke too soon.' He sighed inwardly looking over at Mai, she was talking with Yasu about some school thing, and she hadn't heard Masako's request. "Sure, I'll walk you to the elevators."

He opened the door, holding it long enough for her to pass by him. "What is it that you would like to discuss, Ms. Hara?" he asked walking with her down the hall.

The medium adjusted her red kimono. "Naru, I wanted you to know that I'm not going to black mail you anymore." Masako voice was calm so the statement seemed sincere enough.

"That's good." he replied sticking his hands into the pockets of his black khaki pants.

"And don't you want to know why?" Masako asked him waiting for a reply but he decides to just listen for the time being. "Fine. If you are going to be like that than I'll just spit it out. The reason is Mai. You obviously care for her and she has already fallen for you so there is really no room for me to be getting in the way. Your secret will be safe, of course, but I still what to be able to work with you and the rest of the team."

Naru was surprised to say the least, he hadn't really expected her to give up on him but he kept the expression to himself. "Ms. Hara… thank you and we won't hesitate to call you for the next case." He told her, choosing his words carefully. It was important to keep on good terms with the celebrity but not miss lead her into thinking he would change his mind about a personal relationship. Women tend to think he's interested in them if he just says something simple… it's just one of those idiotic things he doesn't quite understand. They had finally reached the elevators and he didn't like being away from Mai.

"Good night, Kazuya." Masako waved as she got into the elevator next to a few nurses and a guy with a briefcase. He nodded good bye and waited for the doors to close before he walked away.

'Was it… Is it that obvious that I love Mai and how does she know that Mai has even fallen for me? Maybe Mai told her or was I too oblivious to my own assistant's feelings.' He thought making his way back to her room knowing that he'd just pass by his own. After he took out Ms. Ubusana he and Lin were able to get Mai untied and laid out before he went into cardiac arrest. Lucky for him the EMT's showed up right after and revived him. It's only happened to him a few times, which is abnormal for most, and he hated it. His chest hurt, he couldn't breath and when he passed out there was no way of knowing he would wake up again. 'Thinking about it won't help much, it will only give me a head ache that I don't need.'

"Hey! Mr. Shibuya!"

Naru turned around to see who called him out only to find the doctor that had treated him followed buy what looked like to bickering teenagers. 'They look familiar some how…?' he thought absently, stopping so that the doctor could catch up to him. "Is there something you need, Dr. Kurosaki?" he asked dully not really interested in what the fashion challenged* doctor had to say.

"I found these two arguing in the lobby saying something about Ms. Taniyama. When I asked if they knew you they said yes. So I brought them to you – well good luck!" Dr. Kurosaki said cheerfully as he skipped away.

'What…?' He thought processing what had just happened. 'Why did I get stuck with such an idiot doctor?'

"Mr. Shibuya!"

Once again Naru turned around this time getting a better look at the two teens the incredibly lazy doctor dumped on him. One had white hair and light blue eyes, he was dressed rather fashionably with a white sweater vest over a black button down shirt that was unbuttoned at the top and wasn't tucked into his dark colored jeans. The other one was more casual with pull over blue hood and some-what baggy khaki pants that had several pockets down the legs. This guy was a little taller that the white haired one and he had orange hair and black eyes. "What?" he asked, again not really interested… though he vaguely felt like he knew these people.

"We are here to visit Lady Mai." The whited haired teen said politely giving him a bow.

"Who are you? And how do you know my assistant?" It was actually bugging him now but it was easy to keep his voice monotone and his face disinterested. 'For some reason I feel like I don't like either of them. Really Mai's stupid must really be rubbing off on me.'

"I'm Yuki Suzumi and this is my lovely younger brother Tora Suzumi, you and you team were the ones who got rid of the spirits haunting our Inn. The Blushing Sakura, where the trees bloom beautifully in the spring and the air is crisp and clean. " Yuki told him dramatically, which brought every thing back into prospective.

'He was the one that kissed Mai… That's a good reason not to like him.' Naru turned around and continued walking back to Mai's room.

"Hey wait! We came to visit Lady Mai." Yuki jogged up next to him and matched his walking pace. Tora was right behind them.

"She just woke up from being asleep for nine days and is in no shape to be visited at the moment. You can come back tomorrow or another day but next time call ahead." The black clad teen informed them coldly, not stopping to explain more.

"But – " Yuki got a stubborn look on his face, as he was about to go into dramatics but Tora grabbed his brother's arm.

"It would be better if we listened to him, after all would you want to be a burden to Mai?" Naru heard from behind. Walking away he could hear the boys arguing with each other and smirk. 'Neither of them are good enough for Mai.'

It wasn't long when he got back to Mai's room. Yasu, John and Madoka had left leaving only his two assistants pulse a nurse who was checking her bandages. "Naru!" Mai exclaimed happily.

He walked to the side of the bed the nurse wasn't occupying and held out his hand for her to hold. At first she hesitated but slipped her small hand into his, intertwining their fingers together. "Are you all right?" he asked softly, studying her.

"Yeah, nurse Shizune just finished the bandages on my side right before you came in. She kicked out everyone but Lin." Mai smiled and turned her head to the nurse so the she could fix the bandage on her head.

"It looks like this one it all healed up Ms. Taniyama." Shizune said cheerfully taking the used bandage and throwing it into the trash can by the bed. "The doctor will have to look at your side again but you might be out of here in less than a week."

"That's good but how much damage was done?" Mai asked tentatively, her hold on his hand tightened. He understood her obvious fear of what her future might look like if she was badly damaged. The cost or even being a burden to others around her was what she was probably thinking about but he wasn't too worried the doctor, as lazy and fashion challenged as he was, had already told him the details of her injuries and how they would be treated. 'I am paying the bills for this after all.' He thought, giving her a reassuring squeeze.

"Well now that your head is fully healed and the risk of a concussion is out, you don't have to worry about that. The cut on your arms are also healing but your right arm needed stitches and those are scheduled to be taken out tomorrow or the day after." Shizune picked up the chart at the end of Mai's bed and flipped back a few pages before continuing. "The gun shot wound… Well Ms. Taniyama, you, unlike my boss are very lucky! The bullet missed anything vital, which is good because you won't need long term medication."

"But there's bad news, right?" Mai looked worriedly at him and then at the nurse. The heart monitor began to beep faster.

Naru took his hand from her's and wrapped his arm gently around her shoulder. "There's no need to worked up, idiot." He told her. She glared at him but didn't push him away.

The nurse nodded. "Yeah, listen to your boyfriend dear. The bullet pierced your large intestine but Dr. Kurosaki was able to go in and patch you up – so in short you'll be good to go as long as you take the antibiotics as order by the doctor." She smiled again and looked at her watch. "I have to go check on some other patients so just hit that buzzer if you need me."

"I told you so." Naru smirked after the nurse left. He watched her flush a little red as he stood and stretched. His body ached to sleep in a real bed but he didn't care if it meant that Mai was awake.

"Well you could have told me before jerk." She snapped at him before lying back into her somewhat fluffy white pillow. She look worn out but for someone that had been in and induced coma he was surprised that she had been able to stay awake this long.

"Where would the fun in that be?" he replied softly, sitting down. He leaned forward and took her hand again.

"Naru?" He looked up at her meeting her warm brown eyes.

"Yes, Mai."

"How long have you been sitting in that chair?" she asked innocently but the heart monitor beeped slightly faster.

"Since the day before yesterday…" He wasn't sure where she was going with this but her face was turning a rather interesting shade of red.

"Than that means you haven't slept in a bed in two days." Mai stated and before he could interrupt by pointing out how obvious that was she tugged his arm towards her. "This bed is big enough for both of us… would you join me?"

There was uncertainty in her voice that was expected but boldness of the question in itself was what surprised him. 'How is it that she is the only one who can surprise me? I can see through every one else and she is the only one that has found a way to bypass all of barriers I built between people.' He watched her move over some in the bed.

Naru slide next to her and wrapped his arm around her slender shoulders. He brought his other hand up to her face and kissed her softly on the lips. "Does this mean that you love me?" He whispered.

Mai snuggled closer to him tucking her head under his chin. "Yes, of course it does idiot." She whispered tiredly, he could feel her body relax in to his.

Naru couldn't help but smile at her words. "I love you Mai," He whispered kissing the top of her head.

* * *

*For you Bleach fans, i'm talking about how Ichigo's dad wears a Hawaiian shirt and khaki pants to work. i think if you watch episode one you'll see it. :)

Yay! they finally got to say i love you! i really hope that everyone loved this chapter because i worked really hard on it just for you all ^_^

btw if my updates get a little slow it's because i have decided to write a book. it's completely original and if i finish it this summer it might get published. private message me if you want to know what it's about. i have a friend of mine who's book is coming out this September and it's completely amazing! it's called Future Savior - Conception by Jennifer Hartz and it will be an e-book that you can get for your kindle or nook if you have one. So you all should definitely check it out and here's a link to her page: .

there is only one more chapter left and Snowy Nights will have come to a close. thanks so much for reading and please Review!


	20. The End of Winter

Hey everyone! the reason i didn't update is because i really didn't want it to be the end but some how i knew this was how it was supposed to be. i really hope you all enjoy it :)

Disclaimer: I Don't Own Ghost Hunt or it's Characters.

Please R&R!

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Thursday, January 7th

Mai stretched her hands over her head, today was the last day she would spend in the hospital. She couldn't exactly say that her stay there was unpleasant like most because she was lucky enough to have her friends to come visit everyday. The nurses even let them have a small New Year's celebration in her room as long as they could join in after they finished their patient rounds.

Though right now she was still in her white hospital robe sitting at the edge of her bed talking with Tora and Yuki. They had said she had left a photograph in her room and that it would be bad customer service to not find her and give it back. Tora said he had called SPR and Lin told him that she and Naru were in the hospital. Mai was rather surprised that they went through the trouble, since then came to visit her everyday. The two brothers even bought her a present for getting out of the hospital. It was a white sweat jacket that had different colored winged hearts going from the bottom left side up to her right shoulder.

"I love it guys! Thanks!" Mai exclaimed giving them each a hug. She missed the annoyed twitch of Naru's fingers as he watched both of the brothers enjoy the hugs more than they should have.

"That's grand! I picked it out especially for you." Yuki took her hand and kissed it. The petite brunette laughed nervously as she could feel the intense glares coming from Tora and Naru.

But unlike Naru, who wouldn't cause a scene, Tora shoved his brother away from Mai. "It was really my idea. He wanted to buy you… ummm."

"Buy me what?" She asked as the orange haired teen began to turn a very colorful red at the memory of his outlandish brother taking him to a lingerie store.

"Never mind." He glared at his brother who was passed out on the floor. "I thought a jacket would be better because it is still cold out."

Mai smiled and patted him on the shoulder. As she did, she couldn't help but look past the boy's shoulder over to Naru. He was leaning casually against the wall clad in a pair black jeans and a black fleece pullover. Both were well fitted to his body, not baggy or too tight. His hair was messy as usual but at the moment his handsome face held a look of annoyance. She met his deep blue eyes and gave him an apologetic look, motioning with her hand for him to come over.

Which was about the same time Yuki regained his consciousness and composure.

"Tora, Yuki. I want to thank you for taking care of me while I was here, it means a lot to have two great _friends_ like you." Mai then took one of Naru's hands as he took his place next to her. 'Thanking them was the easy part now all you have to do Mai is tell them the hard part and hope that they don't take it badly.' She thought taking a breath. "But I… I mean it's – "

"What she means is that she already has a boyfriend." Naru cut in bluntly. "So you can stop hovering like needy fools."

"Uh… Mai?" Tora stared at their hands. "You mean that.."

"Yes, Mai is mine." The raven-haired teen smirked before slipping his arm around her thin shoulders and kissing her on the cheek.

"…" Poor Yuki was too stunned for words.

At that moment Nurse Shizune popped in through the door carrying a large red paper bag.

"All of you fine young men have to leave now!" She ordered cheerfully, pushing Tora and dazed Yuki out the door. "And you are no exception Mr. Shibuya."

Naru frowned but complied, closing the door behind him. Shizune waited for all the men to leave before turning back to Mai. "Guess what Mai! The doctor said you are clear to check out with in the hour!" She excitedly hugged her favorite patient.

"Really!" Mai was just as ecstatic as her newest friend was. "That's awesome."

"Yeah, he just has to come in and do a last once over." She replied carefully removing the IV line that Mai still had in her arm. They had gotten rid of the oxygen tube the day after she woke up and the heart monitor the day after that. "By the way I called Madoka and asked if she could bring some clothes in for you. She dropped these off this morning."

"Thanks Shizune!" Mai smiled and took the bag as the Nurse left, she could hear her warning the guys not go in until the young brunette was ready. Mai emptied the contents of the bag onto her bed to examine the clothing.

There was a long sleeved pink shirt with frilled edges and a satin ribbon around the bust line. The fabric was very soft and probably expensive. Next were skinny jeans, they were a faded blue that contrasted well with the pink shirt and had a slight flare at the ankles. She glanced at the uggs briefly before coming across the underwear. It was nude and frillier than she was used to. 'Madoka, she bought all of this and underwear! Oh my god, she must have looked through my stuff for the sizes!' Mai thought extremely embarrassed. 'Well I really don't have a choice the clothes I came in are too bloodstained or cut up or both…' she sighed grabbing one of the towels from the end of the bed and went to the bathroom that came with the room.

She showered quickly, thankful that she'd have a chance to freshen up. Though the last time she went to the hospital to visit Naru, Ayako said something like 'Only the expensive rooms get full baths, Naru must be loaded.' She paused for a moment and went over what it would all cost and that was well over what she was paid. 'If Naru and Lin were the ones who got me this room, how did they expect me to pay?' She was having a hard time believing that he would actually leave her in that much debt. 'So maybe Naru paid for it…'

She heard something hit the wall out side her door and figured that the brothers were picking a fight with her favorite narcissist. 'I'll break it up for him. It's the least I can do… for now that is.' She thought with a smile. She could only think about how Naru called her 'his,' the moment that he said he was her boyfriend – the young brunette's heart swell with pure joy.

Mai finished drying off and paused momentarily looking at the still healing scar on her side before she slipped into the outfit that Madoka bought for her. It was only a few days ago that Dr. Kurosaki had taken out the stitches. At the time Monk, Ayako, Yuki, Tora, Naru and Lin decided they wouldn't mind watching while the others went out to have lunch at a near by dinner.

Only Ayako, Naru and Lin held up to that statement as the other three turned pale green and fainted when they saw the doctor take out the first stitch. Watching them made her laugh so much that Dr. Kurosaki told her he wouldn't be able to finish if she didn't stop, even though he was trying hard not to laugh at them either. What made that moment even better was the fact that Naru and Lin were trying not to show their own amusement, while Ayako began to tell them, in detail, what type of things she had seem done in the hospital.

She hurried to the door and swung it open not expecting the brothers to come tumbling in. They both knocked into her as they fell to the ground messing up her balance and sending her forward into Naru's strong arms. "You should be more careful stupid." He whispered into her ear, she could hear the slight humor in his voice.

"I will keep that in mind next time, jerk." She replied sarcastically, but it was impossible to make herself look angry. For a moment neither of them moved from each other's embrace until Lin cleared his voice from behind Naru.

Mai turned back to where she left her new uggs and socks, stepping lighting over the two teens still lying on the floor.

"Tora, Yuki – you should both get off the floor someone might trip over you." She said once she had completed her outfit. 'I'm going to have to repay Madoka some how.' She thought sitting back on her bed just as Dr. Kurosaki came in.

Naru looked over to Lin who was leaning against the wall next to him. "Lin can you go start the car and bring it around front." Mai heard him tell the tall Chinese man.

Lin glanced at Mai with a quick smile and nodded to Naru before he left the room.

* * *

Naru was sitting casually on one side of the cranberry red couch reading the book Mai had gotten him for Christmas, which he had to admit, was pretty good. Occasionally he would just glance over his book to study his assistant as she worked away at an English assignment using his laptop. It had surprised him a little when she told him, apparently she had been taking the class for a while. He always found that every time he turned around she had something else to show even if it was a small piece of personal information.

The light behind her gave off a soft warm glow; it reminded him how the lighting in any room could make a difference, such as the day only a week or so ago when they were bombarded with stones and large pieces of broken glass. Once again Naru felt grateful to Lin, who had called in a cleaning service to get rid of the mess and fix the window among other things that had been damaged.

The raven-haired teen sighed in mixed relief and tiredness at closing the case of what had started with Mai's apartment. He had met later with the police officer from before and gave a statement about how he had found Mai and what he saw Ms. Ubusuna doing to her. Then lied about his little confrontation with the woman saying that she had pointed the gun at him, which was true, he had tried struggling with her but got hit on the head, lie. Lin had come in just in time, also true, they struggled for the gun – lie – he pushed her into the bookcase. The day before Mai had woken up the officer said due to a seriousness of the case, it was pushed up and Ms. Ubusana was charged with destruction on property, kidnapping, assault, and attempted murder. Apparently she pleaded not guilty but the evidence was solid against her – she was going to jail for a long time.

He smirked at the thought as he glanced at the night sky that could be seen through the exposed corner of the window, then at his watch, and then his gazed finally settled on his assistant. She shifted uncomfortably, unaware of the pained scowl that subconsciously worked it's way across her face. He got up, mumbling that he'd be back in a minute.

Naru walked silently into the kitchen, pulling the bottles the nurse had given him at the hospital for Mai and a glass of water as well. The kitchen was fuller now, with food in the fridge and in the cabinets. It amazed him that it had all been done with in a short time by both of his assistants. He never thought much about his diet before or how it affected him. Before he had trouble sleeping and he felt worn out most of the time but now that Mai had been cooking for him he slept better and he felt healthier. He shook the pills from the bottle gently into his hand, careful not to pour too much out and walked back to where the petite girl was sitting. "Here." He said softly sitting down right next to her.

She took the water and held out her hand for the pills. She popped all of the pills in at once and took a big gulp of water. He raised an eyebrow questionably at her.

"What?" Mai asked but he shook his head and held his hand out for the glass. She downed the rest of the water, giving it to him before returning to her work, not noticing the close proximity between them.

He was about to sit back where he was before but when he paused to look her over. She was thinner than she was before but many people who leave the hospital after an extended usually do. However it made her look fragile but she still carried the same loving and happy attitude she always had. Her light brown hair fell just above her shoulders, framing her face. He felt compelled to pull her to him, to kiss her lips, and have it stay that way for as long as possible.

Naru already knew that she was the one he loved, so what was stopping him? Nothing. He placed his hand on the laptop and closed it. "Hey Naru! I was working on that." She turned toward him, whatever annoyance that was in her eyes disappeared immediately when she found herself inches from his face.

"Mai, you've been working so hard, maybe you should take a break." He told her, a teasing smile found it's way onto his handsome face. He took the computer and placed on the floor next to the forgotten glass. "It'd be bad if you were to cause yourself any brain injuries, then we'd have to take you back to the hospital."

"I think you'll be the only one giving them a visit. Is it healthy to have a head as swelled as yours is?" She replied with a mischievous look in her eyes. She was catching on quickly to his little game; she was definitely smarter than most people took her for.

"It's were I keep all on my intelligence, not that you'd know, with all the school that you skip." He had already pulled her on to his lap, whispering the words into her ear, feeling her body shiver with what could only be pleasure.

Mai had rested her arms on his shoulders, hesitating before slinking one arm around his neck slowly. The other trailed from his shoulder down his chest, making his heart pound harder and he was sure she knew that. Mai leaned closer to him, whispering teasingly. "Has any one told you that you are the most self center jerk – "

Naru couldn't resist the erg anymore, chucking the little game of insults out; he cut her off with a kiss. Their lips met gently but there was no denying the passion in it as they eased into each other. He could taste the sweetness of her lip-gloss as he slide his tongue light over her lips. Their hearts beat in unison, each feeling that this was right and all of those hit an' miss moments had all lead to this. Them being together, the world could be falling apart and this couple could careless about it.

Naru felt Mai pull away slowly, panting but she couldn't keep the pleasure from her face. "Do you know how long I have dreamed of this moment?" she told him.

"Too long…" Naru replied unable to believe that he had been unable to see what was right in front of him. He paused lowering his sapphire blue eyes momentarily as he choose his next words carefully. "I apologize for being so… so – "

But this time Mai was the one that cut him off, kissing him quickly but tenderly. "Dense would be the word you're looking for but I could careless about that now."

With that this rather difficult couple returned to their previously described activities unaware that the long snowy winter that has help them come together was melting away to spring. Hopefully the new season will bring them closer.

* * *

Lin had driven home after he had dropped his charges off. When he got to his build the tall handsome Chinese man collected his mail from his all too flirtatious landlady and almost ran to the stairs that were never used by the other people who lived in his building. It was the best way to avoid engaging useless and uncomfortable conversations with the people he was forced to be neighbors with.

Once inside his apartment he locked the door and threw off his coat and shoes. Slowly lumbering over to the gray couch. Lying his self across it he lifted the mail and began to flip through and sort the bills and junk mail.

'Junk' He tossed it on the floor.

'Junk'

'Junk'

'Bill' Only pausing for a moment he placed it on the coffee table.

'Electronics catalogue…' he put it aside knowing there could possibly be something interesting in it.

'Bill'

'A letter… from Naru?' It was the last envelope in the pile. Lin tore the end off and slipped out the letter from inside along with a check that had fluttered out on to his chest. He glanced over it and stopped raising his eyebrows in surprise. For him Naru had nearly tripled the amount of money he usually got paid. 'Why?' he wondered incredulously, opening the letter from his young boss, it was written in his neat script using one of the fountain pens he kept in his desk.

_Lin Koujo,_

_ As CEO of Shibuya Psychic Research, I would like to thank you for your hard and dedicated work. Enclosed with this letter is a check I would like you to consider as a late holiday bonus. Consider it compensation for all the extra hours you have put in, in addition to this you will be getting a raise as well. Last but not least I'd liked to thank you for being a friend to me even when I have lost temper on various occasions. While I hope that I never have to worry about something like this but if any of this gets to Madoka, my parents, Mai or any of the others – there will be consequences._

_~ Kazuya Shibuya _

The handsome Chinese man couldn't help but crack a smile, Naru was the only person he could think of who could compliment, thank, apologize and still threaten someone all in the same paragraph. Though he wasn't worried at all, at the very least Madoka was going to see it whether or no he was the one to show her.

Lin placed the letter with the bills and catalogue before pulling the quilt Madoka had gotten a few year ago, off the back of the couch. He shook it open and laid it over himself too tired from spending days at the hospital to actually take the time to eat or change out of his work clothes.

'It's a little early in the evening' He thought glancing tiredly at his watch but in truth he didn't mind.

It was only 8:30.

THE END

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:) ha maybe it's was a little bit of a cleshay ending but sometimes those are the best kind of endings. thank you for reading, sticking around and supporting me by giving me such great reviews, so give this story one more. i'm saying good bye for now but i will be back and with new stories!

~ Kikan


	21. Epilogue

Disclaimer: I do not own Ghost Hunt or any of it's characters

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Friday, February 12

Mai was sitting by one of the office's windows looking out at the people below. They hustling and bustling about from shopping, eating, or walking with purpose to their next destination. And despite the chilly day, the sun was shining and the evergreen trees swayed slightly in the breeze. She wondered if the people below notice how good the day was? If Naru knew how beautiful today was?

She sighed contently as her thought wonder over from the scenery to her boyfriend. They had been dating for a little over a month and they took turns deciding where they should go on a date. It was his turn this time and usually when he picked some place to go it was a walk in the park. They would pick a bench under a large tree and snuggle for warmth. Often they just ended up making out but sometimes she would ask him little things like what his favorite color was or what teas he preferred. Though when she asked about his family he tended to dodge the question or change the subject.

She had picked a nice little restaurant for their last date where they served really great tea. Usually when they went to a place she picked he would as her questions about school or they kissed but recently he wanted to know more and more about her parents. At first Mai hesitated but once she got started, telling him the quirky things about her mom or the vague things about her dad became easier.

'Naru was careful when he asked about them… like he understood exactly how it felt to lose loved ones,' She thought with a sad smile, getting up away from the window. 'Maybe… I'll show him their graves when it's my turn to pick the place.'

The petite brunette walked to the kitchenette, getting the feeling that her incredibly attractive boss was about to call for tea. "Tea, Tea, what kind of tea should I make today?" She said in a sing song voice, her fingers lightly skimming over the tin canisters of tea until she reached the container marked Earl Gray. "This one looks good!"

"Mai, Tea!" she heard as she was going through the motions of preparing the tea.

After it was done she placed three cups on the tray. Stopping by Lin's office she delivered his tea and then walked to Naru's. Knocking lightly she carefully eased the door open and tapped it closed behind her with her foot. Mai placed the tray down on his desk and then, right as she switched the old cup for the new, he spoke.

"Would you mind staying for a bit?" He asked. The sound of his deep smooth voice made her heart pound. She looked up to see that he was facing the window, had he been enjoying the same view she had just moments before?

"Sure," she replied sitting in one of the black leather chairs with her teacup. "Is it about an up coming case? Should I call the others?"

As he spun around to face her, he looked down at the papers on his desk before his gaze met her questioning brown eyes. "No," he replied. "I have a lot of things I need to talk to you about."

The raven hair teen's face was solemn, his blue eyes full of uncertainly as if he was questioning one of his own decisions. "Naru, you can tell me anything." Mai stood and placed her cup on the tray that was still resting on the desk. Then she came up to him and hugged his shoulders. He responded by pulling her into his lap.

"I want to know Mai, will you love me no matter what happens?" He whispered in her ear, pulling her into a tight embrace.

"Naru are you alright?" Mai pulled back to look into his face worried. 'He's acting so strange! Where is the over confident, stoic, narcissist?'

"Will you or will you not?" He asked more forcefully.

"I love you more than anyone, possibly even more than my parents." Mai struggled with the last part but she knew it was true. "No, I love you even more." She looked directly into his dark sapphire blue eyes.

He smiled briefly, he knew it was a hard choice. But hearing her say it was exactly what he need.

"I will start off with who I really am…" He began.

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This is especially for xSapphirexRosesxFanx! She pointed out in her review what I forgot and I hope that this end satisfies :]

Thank you all once again and please review!


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